CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Coastal Bend football, volleyball and basketball coaches gathered at the Education Service Center for the UIL 2024-2026 tentative realignment and reclassification of the districts on Thursday.
"It's crazy because it's like Wall Street around here," Miller football head Coach Justen Evans said. "It's unlike any other. The buildup over a year for this day is pretty unique, so we're excited."
The big changes for Corpus Christi ISD football was five of their six schools - Miller, Moody, King, Ray and Carroll - dropped to UIL 5A-DII.
Veterans Memorial stays in 5A-DI and they'll play Flour Bluff in district 15, who moved up a classification.
"There's some strong teams in our district and we get to play at least one local team here with Vets (Veterans Memorial) in our district, so it's good," Clynton Elwood, Flour Bluff interim football head coach, said.
Gregory-Portland stays in 5A-DII, but will now play the five CCISD schools in a six team district.
Coaches are still fine-tuning their schedules, but Veterans Memorial is expected to keep their rivalry alive with Miller, by tentatively scheduling a matchup in week one. Plus, the Buccaneers are adding a tough week three non-district opponent to their schedule, UIL 6A-DII defending state champion DeSoto.
"Our non-district slate is tough. They're state champions you know, and I always say if you want to put yourself on a scale of recognition on what the state is then you've got to play the best," Evans said. "We never shy away from competition, so we're excited for the challenge."
The game is tentatively scheduled to be played at a neutral site in San Marcos.
The biggest shock of the day was for Alice High School. The Coyotes were expected to move up to UIL 5A-DII, however they are not with any CCISD schools. In fact, all of their games are district games are against Valley opponents.
"They sent us down south with Roma and Sharyland schools down there, so it will be different competition for us, " J.R. Castellano, Alice football head coach, said. "It will be travel for us that we're having to travel down there a little further than normal."
Castellano did share a few possible opponents for non-district that will bring back some rivals with Carroll, Gregory-Portland, Sinton and Calallen.
5A Division 1 Football
District 15
Brownsville Rivera
Corpus Christi Flour Bluff
Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial
Donna
Donna North
Harlingen South
PSJA Memorial
PSJA North
Weslaco East
5A Division 2 Football
District 14
Corpus Christi Carroll
Corpus Christi King
Corpus Christi Miller
Corpus Christi Moody
Corpus Christi Ray
Gregory-Portland
District 15
Alice
Mission Sharyland
Mission Veterans Memorial
Roma
Sharyland Pioneer
The Table is Set… pic.twitter.com/pWnPoXxFfo
— @AliceAthletics (@AliceAthletics1) February 2, 2024
