UIL NUMBERS, CUTOFFS RELEASED | Henderson stays 4A-DI, PT joins the party; Lobos to 6A

In preparation for its bi-annual realignment of high school districts for athletics, the University Interscholastic League released its cutoff numbers on Friday morning.

The biggest news, locally, is pretty much on who’s NOT moving, and who might be coming into 4A, not who’s leaving.

Henderson High School will remain in Class 4A, Division I, but not by much.

Many thought the Lions would move down a classification, to the smaller division of 4A, Division II within the UIL. But Henderson’s enrollment snapshot number that HISD submitted was 982.5, and the cutoff for 4A, Division II and Division I is 956 students – schools with more than 956 students are in 4A, Division I, all the way up to 1,314 students.

There is, of course, no change for Kilgore High School sports. The Bulldogs are well within 4A, Division I. Kilgore’s enrollment number is 1,168, nowhere near the bottom level of 957, nowhere near the top number of 1,314.

Official realignment, when districts are assigned for the next two school years (in this case, 2024-25, and 2025-26), will be announced by the UIL in February.

Word on the street, if you will, was that Henderson would be moving down when the new realignment happened in February, for the next two school years, and that Jacksonville High School would be moving up. Further rumors had Pine Tree ISD sports moving down a classification from smaller 5A – 5A, Division II – to 4A, Division I, with former district rivals Kilgore and Henderson.

The Henderson portion of that equation didn’t happen. But the other two – they did.

Jacksonville was down for just one realignment. The Indians will be moving back up to 5A, Division II, according to the enrollment snapshot number they submitted (1,391).

And Pine Tree will be coming down to 4A, Division I. The Pirates’ snapshot number was 1,256.5, not even close to the 1,314 needed to remain in 5A.

What about other schools in the ETBlitz.com coverage area?

West Rusk has competed in Class 3A, Division II, the smaller division of 3A, and had great success there in several sports, including track, where they won a state team trophy last year, as well as football, a string of district championships and playoff runs, and softball. And the Raiders will remain in 3A-DII – their snapshot number was 349, and the 3A cutoff number is 368.

Troup (323) is also well within that number and the Tigers will remain at 3A-DII, as will Arp (302).

Sabine is also staying put in the 3A, Division I, the larger version of 3A, and it’s not close. The Cardinals snapshot is 454 – 3A DI is nowhere near the bottom number of 368, and nowhere near the top number of 544, which would make them a 4A-DI athletic program.

Tatum will also remain in 3A-DI: the Eagles turned in a snapshot of 448.

It’s the same story for Overton ISD athletics, as well, who have been Class 2A, Division II for quite some time. Coach Scotty Laymance and Mustangs sports turned in a snapshot of 166, 25 below the cutoff to move up to 2A, Division I (181).

And Leverett’s Chapel’s enrollment is 67 – that’s 1A, Division I, believe it or not. The Lions are six students, just six, above the cutoff from being the smaller 1A, Division II, the smallest school athletics programs in the state.

Of interest: Longview High School reported an enrollment of 2,280 – that’s five students, just five, over the cutoff mark of 5A, Division I and 6A, meaning the Lobos are going up to compete at the 6A level. The only other East Texas-area 6A program is Tyler Legacy, the former Tyler Lee.

Tyler, the former John Tyler, reported a snapshot of 2,101, and will remain a 5A-DI program.

Carthage remains firmly entrenched in smaller 4A, DII, with an enrollment of 788, not anywhere close to the 957 that would be needed to push them up to bigger 4A.

Joining them in smaller 4A will be Athens, it looks like. The Hornets, who have been in the district with Kilgore and Henderson often the last few realignments, turned in a snapshot of 873.

Conversely, Lindale, another district rival of KHS and Lindale, had been thought by many to be going up to 5A-DII, but won’t be, with a snapshot of 1,286.