Organization news and notes

Local high school fans pleased with their respective current district alignments will get more of the same over the next two years.

District 24-5A was left unchanged when the University Interscholastic League announced its biennial realignment last Thursday, February 2. The few changes that did occur turned out to be favorable.

Pearland will remain in 24-5A along with Ball High, Clear Brook, Clear Creek, Clear Lake, Alvin and Brazoswood.

Another decision made by the UIL will likely be met with approval by Pearland football fans. The nine Fort Bend schools saw their district changed from 20-5A to 23-5A, which matches them up with 24-5A in the first round of the playoffs. That means that the Oilers or any of the other 24-5A schools won't have to face North Shore (22-5A) in the first round.

With the new alignment comes a different set of non-district football opponents for area schools. Pearland’s schedule includes a first meeting with perennial 4A state power La Marque.

Joining La Marque (Home) on the Pearland slate are Kempner (Away), Houston Madison (Home) and Spring Branch Memorial (Away). The Oilers have played Kempner and Memorial that past two years with Madison being a first-time opponent. Madison is the alma mater of former UT quarterback Vince Young.

“We’re all set and ready to go,” Oiler gridiron coach Tony Heath said. “We’ll find out if we’re good or bad early.”

What surprised most area coaches the most was that there were so few surprises. Districts throughout the Houston area remained largely unchanged on the 5A and 4A level.

One major exception is placing the five Pasadena ISD schools, North Shore, La Porte and Deer Park into 22-5A, while moving the Fort Bend schools into 23-5A.

“I thought it would either be the same or it would be totally twisted,” Heath said. “One little twist is that we don’t match up with (former) 23-5A schools. That (district) is now the Fort Bend schools, so we will play them first (in the playoffs).”

The realignment was also good news for North Shore (22-5A) as Westfield, who has knocked off the Mustangs the past two seasons in the second round of the playoffs, was moved to Region II. District 22-5A and 24-5A are in Region III.

The other change that the UIL made beginning in 2006-07 is the addition of a big school in the Division I playoff bracket. Formerly, the largest school qualifying for the post-season went to Division I and the two smaller schools from the same district were placed in Division II. Now - the playoffs will be balanced with two schools competing in Division I and two schools in Division II allowing four schools to qualify for the post-season instead of three teams.

Talk about this Game on the Oiler Bulletin Board