Matchups set for Gonzales County with UIL realignment

Monday morning the University Interscholastic League (UIL) announced the 2016-18 tentative football and basketball district assignments. The spring meet as well as other athletic district alignments will be released no later than April 15.

As a reminder, Gonzales County schools Gonzales, Nixon-Smiley and Waelder were set to stay in their respective classifications, with the only change being in football where the Gonzales Apaches will drop from Class 4A-Division 1 to Class 4A-Division 2.

The Apaches are back to facing familiar faces in this realignment, with travel mileage cut by nearly 1000 miles as they were placed in District 10-4AD2 (in Region 3) with Caldwell, Columbus, Giddings, La Grange and Smithville. For those who were wondering, their rivals, the Cuero Gobblers, were placed in District 15-4AD2 (Region 4) along with Aransas Pass, Cuero, Ingleside, Sinton, Sweeny and Wharton.

For basketball the Apaches district is much smaller, cutting out Cuero, Canyon Lake and the now 3A Yoakum Bulldogs from their district. Remaining in the new District 27-4A is Gonzales with Geronimo Navarro, La Vernia and Wimberley. Austin Eastside Memorial has been added to the five-team district as well.

Nixon-Smiley stays in a six-team district for football. They will take on Karnes City, Natalia, Poth and Stockdale in District 15-3AD2. Replacing Blanco (district champions in the past two years) is Dilley.

For basketball purposes, the Mustangs are placed in District 27-3A. The district will see five new teams, with only Luling, Nixon-Smiley and Stockdale remaining from the current realignment. Incoming schools are Hallettsville, Luling, Marion, Schulenburg, Universal City Randolph and the previously 4A Yoakum Bulldogs.

Nixon-Smiley now moves from having seven teams in a district to eight.

The Waelder Wildcats do not have football, so no district was assigned.

As for basketball, the Wildcats will go from an eight-team district down to just a six-team District 30-1A. Waelder stays playing against Dime Box, Fayetteville, Moulton, Prairie Lea and Round Top-Carmine, cutting out La Marque PLA (who goes to District 29-1A) and Burton (who jumped to 2A).

Right now schools wishing to change districts may do so by getting a unanimous vote from both the district to which they have been assigned and the district to which they wish to change. If a unanimous vote is achieved from both districts, both district chairs are informed to notify the UIL office by phone and follow with written notification. The school appealing should fill out the Appeal Form. Deadline for requesting the change is Feb. 11. The District Assignment Appeals Committee hearing for appeals will be held at 9 a.m. at the UIL office in Austin on Feb. 18. The next day is the fist day for district executive committee meetings to set district schedules.