The University Interscholastic League released its new district alignments for football, volleyball and basketball today and some significant changes are in order for several Scurry County teams.
Down To Five
The Snyder Tigers’ football team will once again compete in District 1-4A Division 2, but the district shrunk from seven teams to five following the loss of Lamesa and Fort Stockton.
The Lamesa Golden Tornadoes dropped to 3A Division 1 and the Fort Stockton Panthers made the leap to 4A Division 1, leaving District 1-4A Division 2 with the Tigers, reigning district champion Midland Greenwood Rangers, the Monahans Lobos, the Pecos Eagles and the Sweetwater Mustangs.
In his first year at the helm, head football coach Wes Wood led the Tigers to a third place finish in District 1-4A Division 2 in 2019. Snyder finished behind Pecos and Greenwood and ahead of Fort Stockton, Sweetwater, Monahans and Lamesa.
Wood said Monday’s realignment made for a busy morning for him and his staff, but they were pleased with the disrict.
“We retained our district with just five teams, but it makes sense,” he said. “We lined up horizontally with Seminole so it could have been a four-team northern district and another six team district, but the UIL decided to go with the five and five. In all honesty, I was shocked, but I am ok with it. We had to scramble this morning to get our schedule done because of other people’s schedules changing.”
Wood said Snyder and Lamesa will still meet on the football field in 2020 in the pre-district schedule.
The shift to a five team district presents a new set of challenges for the second-year head coach and his program as they head into 2020.
“The requirements to get into the playoffs now mean less wins, but everybody is going to be competing for those spots,” Wood said. “I think Monahans will be better, I know Sweetwater will be better because that quarterback is really good and Midland Greenwood is a solid program. Pecos is going to be stout and could be the front-runner. It is going to be super competitive.”
Spur out, Roby in
The Hermleigh Cardinals’ and the Ira Bulldogs’ football teams move to District 7-1A Division 1, where they will compete with the Aspermont, Roby and Rotan.
Ropesville made the leap to 11-man football and 2A Division 1 play and Spur will play in District 3-1A Division 1 with Crowell, Knox City, Paducah and Vernon Northside. Ira head coach Toby Goodwin said despite being a bit shocked by the move to the east, he was pleased with the realignment.
“I didn’t know what to expect going into it,” he said. “There were three or four possibilities. I thought we would move south, but we will take it,”
The Bulldogs will play a familiar district schedule, with Aspermont, Hermleigh and Rotan once again on the schedule.
Goodwin said it was regional play where they saw a shift.
“It’s familiar,” he said. “We traded Spur for Roby. I’m happy with it. I think the team to beat in the state will be Rankin and they are in the region. It’ll be tough.”
Snyder volleyball and basketball teams will face several new schools in district play.
Snyder will compete in District 3-4A with Big Spring, Levelland, Lubbock Estacado, San Angelo Lake View and Sweetwater.
Bye Greenwood, Hello Levelland
The reigning district champion Lady Tiger volleyball team will no longer have to compete with the Midland Greenwood Lady Rangers for the district title. The Lady Rangers finished the 2019 season second in District 5-4A play, but will now compete in District 2-4A.
The Lady Tigers will face Levelland and Lubbock Estacado, both of whom competed in District 3-4A in 2019. Levelland went 22-15 en route to a third place finish and Estacado went 14-22 and finished fifth in the district.
Snyder head volleyball coach Mindi Bredemeyer said Levelland presents a new challenge for the Lady Tigers and expects district play to be just as competitive in 2020.
“I’m not upset with it,” she said. “I think Levelland will be tough. They have a good program with good athletes. We will prepare for them much like we did for Greenwood. We play Lubbock Estacado every year in pre-district and we are usually evenly matched with Big Spring and Sweetwater. I think it will be a good district.”
New District, New Challenges
The 2019-2020 Snyder boys’ basketball team has already faced both Lubbock Estacado and Levelland this season, with both games resulting in close losses. Snyder head boys basketball coach Lee Scott said the Tigers will embrace the challenge.
“I don’t think our district got any easier,” he said. “It will be more challenging, but that will just help in the long run by hopefully getting us prepared for a long playoff run. We have been playing tough teams over the past two years and I think we will be a tough team to beat, so it’ll be fun. To be the best, you have to beat the best, so why not start beating them in district play?”
Ira and Hermleigh basketball also saw a big change in district play. They will play in District 14-1A with Loraine and Westbrook, but several new schools also join the mix. Roscoe Highland and Texas Leadership Charter Academy of Abilene both join the district with the Cardinals and Bulldogs, while Highland moved out.
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