Austin ISD playing in College Station? UIL releases football districts for 2024-26
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Thursday morning, the University Interscholastic League released its new district alignments from the 2024-26 football seasons, along with adjusted enrollment cutoffs for classifications that affected several Central Texas schools.
The UIL set the enrollment mark for 6A schools at 2,275 students (50 more than 2022-24) and over, sending both Anderson and Pflugerville Weiss from the state's highest classification down to 5A. Now both schools will be in the same district, District 12-5A, along with a pair of schools from College Station. It's the first time in history that an Austin ISD school is paired with schools from College Station. Here's a look at the new District 12-5A:
- Anderson
- Bastrop Cedar Creek
- Buda Hays
- College Station
- College Station A&M Consolidated
- Kyle Lehman
- Lockhart
- Pflugerville Hendrickson
- Pflugerville Weiss
The Trojans are the only AISD school in the district and have some significant travel ahead of them after being the tight-knit District 26-6A for the past two years.
"This is like Christmas morning for coaches," Trojans head coach Donald Hatcher said. "A lot of stress is off the kids now because they've been wanting to know who they're going to play for about three months now. They're out there getting after it."
As for that district, it shrunk by a couple of teams with the departure of Anderson and Buda Johnson. Powerhouses Westlake, Lake Travis and Dripping Springs make the district still one of the toughest in Texas, but it's now a 7-team district. Austin High, Akins, Bowie and Del Valle make up the rest of it with Buda Johnson heading south to District 29-6A with schools on the northern outskirts of San Antonio, including San Marcos. The Jaguars join Cibolo Steele, Comal Canyon, Converse Judson, San Antonio East Central and Schertz Clemens along with the Rattlers.
"You never know what to expect," Westlake head coach Tony Salazar said. "We like the competition in our district, it makes us better. When you play good teams in your district, it makes us step our game up. We're excited to still have tremendous teams in our league."
Hutto moves closer to the Austin area with its realignment in District 25-6A. For the past two seasons, the Hippos have been in District 12-6A with Weiss and Waco-area schools, but they'll create a 9-team district with schools from Round Rock and others. Here's District 25-6A:
- Vandegrift
- Vista Ridge
- Hutto
- Manor
- Round Rock
- McNeil
- Stony Point
- Westwood
- Cedar Ridge
Austin ISD schools were most impacted by the cutoffs between 5A and 4A schools, sending multiple schools down to create District 13-4A Division I. The program with the most recent success on the field that moved down is LBJ, which previously moved up to 5A in the earlier time block. LBJ joins AISD schools Eastside, Northeast and Travis along with Austin Achieve, Manor New Tech and Taylor.
LBJ advanced to the second round of the 5A Division II playoffs this season and was a state title contender at 4A before moving up for the previous two seasons.
In 5A Division II, a little shuffling created District 11-5AD2 including the remaining AISD schools that stayed up. Crockett, LASA, McCallum and Navarro will now be part of a 9-team district that looks like this:
- Crockett
- LASA
- McCallum
- Navarro
- Bastrop
- Elgin
- Liberty Hill
- Pflugerville
- Pflugerville Connally
Crockett head coach Darrick Norton said while it's exciting to finally know the districts, it's a little bittersweet because he loved facing off against LBJ in district play.
"We've got some familiar foes, and that wonderful machine that's Liberty Hill," Norton said. "LBJ was the best team in Austin, and in order to be the best you've got to beat the best, but we won't get a chance for the next couple of years, but who knows in the future? I wish them luck."
Class 4A powerhouse Wimberley stayed in District 13-4AD2 but has some new district opponents. They'll get Salado, Smithville and Gonzales while Geronimo Navarro, Jarrell and Lago Vista are there as well. Caldwell, Giddings and La Grange are in District 11 with state runner-up Bellville, Madisonville and Sealy.
McDade made the jump from Class 1A to 2A and will play in District 13-2AD2.
Schools can appeal their district placements with the UIL by Feb. 12 and schools can finalize their district schedules on Feb. 21. The realignment process is done every two years to help ensure a competitive balance among all the schools in Texas.