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Updated Thursday, November 03, 2011 1:27 PM
2A realignment: Whither Gunter?
If Texomaland will have a lack of representation in Class 3A in the next University Interscholastic League realignment, the opposite will be true in Class 2A.
There will be more than enough 2A schools next fall, their ranks swelling with the expected addition of Whitesboro, Van Alstyne and Pilot Point. Only one local school, Melissa, will go the other direction and move up to 3A.
Once again, the schools will be districted into Division I (bigger 2A schools) and Division II (smaller schools).
The local picture at first seems simple: One Division I district and one Division II district. But there’s a team that could screw everything up, and I’ll get to them in a minute.
Starting with the big schools, we have a solid core of six teams in our area: Callisburg, Howe, Pilot Point, Pottsboro, Van Alstyne and Whitesboro. Without any Division I schools in Fannin County, Collin County or the rest of Cooke County to connect with, this seems like a no-brainer district to me. (As I did in my 3A outlook, I’m assuming that Farmersville remains 3A.)
So that’s Division I in a nutshell. Division II is much the same.
The six present members of District 5-2A in Division II — Bells, Gunter, Leonard, S&S, Tom Bean and Whitewright — might, and should, stay together. The UIL has tended to keep Texoma schools together over the years, except for instances like 2008 where there were too many schools for a single district.
Now here is the potential fly in the ointment: Gunter, which has creeped up to an enrollment of 292 students, just below the present cutoff between Divisions I and II.
If Gunter crosses the line into Division I, that could force the UIL to kick either Callisburg or Pilot Point west to join Bowie, Boyd, Jacksboro, Paradise and Ponder, or kick both west and bring Sunnyvale, outside of Mesquite, into the fold (if not Farmersville). A seven-team district is not likely in 2A.
Also, if Gunter rises, that throws everything out of whack in Division II, and there aren’t many options. You have Cooper, Paris Chisum, Bogata Rivercrest and Clarksville to the east, and Nocona, Henrietta, and possibly Valley View and Alvord to the west. I fear our cozy local district would be torn asunder.
So in summary, Gunter is the key to a nice, tidy local alignment picture in 2A. If Gunter stays Division II, it looks like we should keep our local district rivalries intact. If not, chaos may ensue across the board, and that means lots of bus rides that’ll be longer than they otherwise would be.
I’ll hold happy thoughts and keep Gunter down in Division II — thoughts that are probably not so happy for projected district colleagues who’ve seen the Tigers make 13 straight playoff trips.
So here are my local 2A districts as I see them:
District 5-2A (I)
Callisburg 344
Howe 300
Pilot Point 424
Pottsboro n/a
Van Alstyne 422
Whitesboro 394
District 5-2A (II)
Bells 221
Gunter 292
Leonard n/a
S&S 264
Tom Bean 247
Whitewright 226
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