Byron Nelson and Northwest Set To Take On New District Slates

Byron Nelson and Northwest set to ta e on ne dist i t slates

by Steve Gamel

Just like every high school football team in the state, Byron Nelson and Justin Northwest found out which districts they will be apart of for the next two years when the University Interscholastic League announced its biennial reclassification and realignment slate on February 3.

Byron Nelson is now in District 4-6A with Keller, Keller Fossil Ridge, Keller Central, Keller Timber Creek, Northwest Eaton, and Southlake Carroll. Meanwhile, Northwest, which is once again in Class 5A Division I, is in a larger eight-team district with Abilene Cooper, Azle, Crowley, Fort Worth Arlington Heights, Granbury, Saginaw, and White Settlement Brewer. The UIL, the state’s governing body for extracurricular activities of Texas public schools, unveils new districts every two years based on enrollment figures for each school. The goal is to maintain a fair and competitive field of play throughout the state. Therefore, based on enrollment numbers, some schools may move up while others will move down to keep schools of similar size paired together. New schools that just opened are also thrown into the mix based on their enrollment figures. Naturally, this forces many coaches and administrators to play the guessing game on where their programs will end up, and it all comes to a head on realignment day. Th e oal is to maintain a ai and om etiti e ield o lay t ou out t e state.

For Nelson, there aren’t many changes from the previous realignment. Keller, Central, Fossil Ridge, Timber Creek, Eaton, and Southlake were all in the Bobcats’ district last year. The only missing team is Guyer, which was moved to a different district. The trick for the Bobcats will be to find a way to have better results against these familiar opponents. Nelson has missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, combining for just four wins in district play.

Meanwhile, Northwest’s football team is looking for its third straight playoff appearance and knows very little about its new opponents. None of the other seven teams were in Northwest’s previous district, but all but Heights and Brewer made the postseason.

Southlake Carroll, in particular, went four rounds deep a year ago and is considered the easy frontrunner. But there is also Abilene Cooper and Azle, who advanced three and two rounds deep, respectively. Where Northwest fits in that mix is the biggest question mark.

For all sports except football, Northwest’s district will be slightly different. District 6-5A features Colleyville Heritage, Denton, Denton Ryan, G rapevine, Birdville, Richland, Lake Dallas, and Saginaw.