Hays and Lehman will be in a new Class 4A district, along with Lockhart, New Braunfels Canyon, Clemens, Alamo Heights and Smithson Valley. The Rebels will also renew an old football rivalry with a non-district game against San Marcos High.
by Jason Gordon
The competition level in both the Hays and Lehman high school athletic worlds should be a whole lot tougher over the course of the next two school years.
On Monday morning, the University Interscholastic League released its redistricting and realignment plan. Both Hays and Lehman will be included in the seven-team District 27-4A in both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years.
Also included in 27-4A will be Lockhart, New Braunfels Canyon, Alamo Heights, Schertz Clemens, and Smithson Valley.
Smithson Valley, a former Hays district foe in the 1990s, has spent the last decade as a Class 5A statewide football powerhouse, advancing to the state semifinals five times and the state finals three times.
Alamo Heights won the Class 4A Division I state championships in 2006, and was a state semifinalist in 2004. Clemens was a Class 4A Division I state semifinalist in 2006.
“My initial reaction is it’s tough,” said Hays Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Bob Shelton. “It will be tough across the board in all sports but I’m glad we are back in Region IV.”
One positive for Hays and Lehman coming out of UIL’s new realignment plan is both schools will be back in Region IV, which extends southward through San Antonio, Corpus and the Rio Grande valley. Both Hays and Lehman have spent the last two school years for the first time in Region III, which extends eastward to the Texas-Louisiana border and has made for many long playoff road trips. Playoff games in Region IV more commonly take place in Austin, San Marcos, New Braunfels or San Antonio.
“It will be a very competitive and tough district but I’m glad we’re heading south,” said Lehman Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Steve Davis. “I think in every sport if you come out of that district into the playoffs you know you have a good team. It’s going to be an interesting two years with a lot better competition. We need to start feeding our kids better.”
Both Shelton and Davis have tentatively named Hays and Lehman’s non-district opponents. Both teams will play all four of their non-district foes in both 2010 and 2011. The most exciting news to come out of the non-district schedules is that the Rebels will renew a rivalry with San Marcos High. The two squared off numerous times in front of sellout crowds, including more than 16,000 fans at San Marcos’ Bobcat Stadium. The last time the Rattlers and Rebels faced each other on the gridiron was 2003.
In this order in 2010, Hays is scheduled to play Akins (zero week), Anderson, San Marcos, and Hutto. The sites of the non-district games have yet to be determined. In district, Hays will play, in order, at home against Lehman, at Alamo Heights, at home against Clemens, at Lockhart, and will then have an open week in week eight, before finishing the regular season with a game at home against Canyon High followed by a game at Smithson Valley.
“It’s going to be good to play San Marcos again,” Shelton said. “It should be fun for our players, coaches and fans. We played a lot of very close ballgames in the past.”
In 2010, Lehman will face, in order, Austin-St. Michael’s (zero week), San Antonio-Edison, Austin-Crockett, and San Antonio Jefferson before getting into its district lineup. In district, the Lobos will play, in order, at Hays, at home against Canyon High, at Smithson Valley, and then will have an open week in week seven, followed by games at home against Alamo Heights, at Clemens, and at home against Lockhart.
“Our non-district schedule will give us a chance to see where we’re at athletically before we get into district,” Davis said. “St. Michael’s, Crockett and Edison should be good tests, and we don’t know a whole lot about Jefferson.”
Other interesting UIL redistricting movement includes San Marcos, Seguin, Steele, and Del Valle high schools all moving up to Class 5A.
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