A whole new meaning

At this time last week, tonight's Palestine/Westwood basketball games were nothing more than season finales for the girls and late-season games for the boys.

Sure, I thought, there might be some playoff implications (there's one, the Westwood boys can't lose this one, and they shouldn't) but nothing more than that.

Boy was I wrong.

2012-2014 UIL Realignment cutoff numbers

Here are the cutoff numbers the UIL used to determine the classifications for this latest realignment

5A: 2090+ (245 schools)
4A: 2089-1005 (250)
3A: 1004-450 (190)
2A: 449-200 (235)
1A/6M: >199.

And here are the division breaks for 2A and 1A. Anything above the number is Division I, below is D-II
2A 297.5
1A 11-Man 150.5
1A 6-Man 53.5

Finally, here are what our area schools turned in on snap-shot day:
Palestine: 802
Westwood: 448.5
Elkhart: 339
Frankston: 206
Cayuga: 199
Grapeland: 154
Oakwood: 59
Neches/Slocum: N/A

UIL Realignment

The numbers are in and district's are out. There will be plenty of time to figure out what it means later today, but for now here are the area's new districts:

Class 3A (all sports)
District 19 (Region III)
FAIRFIELD HS
GROESBECK HS
MEXIA HS
PALESTINE HS
RUSK HS

Class 2A, Division I (football)
District 11
CROCKETT HS
ELKHART HS
FRANKLIN HS
PALESTINE WESTWOOD HS
TEAGUE HS
TRINITY HS

Class 2A, Division I (all other sports)
District 19
CROCKETT HS
ELKHART HS
GARRISON HS
GROVETON HS
NACOGDOCHES CENTRAL HEIGHTS HS
PALESTINE WESTWOOD HS
WODEN HS

A crazed 48 hours

As I write this, I've just wrapped up my story on Frankston's Michael Warren and Treston Coleman signing their National Letters of Intent.

In just a little bit, I'll head out to Palestine for a similar ceremony for Palestine's Bobby Walker. Then, I'm off to Neches to talk to the stellar seniors of the Lady Tigers.

Then, tomorrow, I'll be in early for Realignment Day, when the University Interscholastic League releases all the new districts and regions.

Realignment Day especially excites me, because I've never covered one before, not the mention that locally, there are storylines galore.

Friday Night Previews: Week 9

It's a big, if not huge, night locally for high school football. That being said, before we head into our previews, allow me a chance to vent about my beloved Texas Rangers.

Never in my life have I felt more emotionally drained following a sporting event. Silly? Probably, but real none the less. As I sat on my couch helpless and watched David Freese rounding the bases, I figured that I'd just lived through the worst sporting event experience in my life, and perhaps in the life I haven't even lived yet.

Now, this all sounds rather extreme, I know, but that's what fandom is about, right? It's about investing yourself emotionally in a group of people you've never met and probably never will meet. That's at least part, if not all, of the fun.

Now the team gets a chance on the biggest of stages, Game 7. They don't come any bigger. As a fan who can look at things as subjectively as I want, I want to say I think they can pull it out, think they can rebound. As a sportswriter whose job it is to be object, I'm not that sure.

I don't know if teams get many more opportunities than the Rangers got last night, but as a fan, I hope they have one more in them. If they can't pull it out...well I just don't know.

On to the football.

Friday Night Previews: Week 8

After a week away — car trouble — from the previews, here we are again. Week 8 is setting up to be arguably the biggest week of the season for a variety of reasons, namely that a lot of teams have everything on the line this week.

But, the marquee game isn't one with everything on the line. Fairfield comes into Palestine tonight in a battle of two teams who have yet to lose a district game. Fairfield comes in at 7-0 on the season, Palestine is 5-2, having won four-straight games.

Outside of the Dogwood Circle and the Fairfield area, this game isn't really getting much attention. It's understandable. In East Texas Class 3A alone, Van will take on Lindale and Carthage and Henderson will face off. Those are, arguably, four of the state's top-15 3A football teams, including a battle between last year's D-I and D-II state champions.

But, just because the attention won't be here doesn't mean this game isn't huge.

Friday Night Previews: Week 6

After the majority of the local squads got the weekend off last weekend, everyone returns to the field tonight. Everyone also begins their quest for a district title.

All seven local squads begin district play tonight, headlined by the resurgent Palestine Wildcats taking on visiting Groesbeck.

But, there are plenty of intriguing matchups already in the first week of district, plenty of which could alter the playoff landscape.

That's right, games played tonight could easily be looked upon in four weeks as deciding factors in the playoff races.

Excited yet?

Friday Night Previews: Week 4

It's the final week of non-district play for the six Dogwood Circle schools that play 11-man football, and no one wants to ponder a loss for a single week, let alone two.

That being said, plenty of local squads take on some tremendous opponents this week and, if nothing else, we'll get to see what these teams are truly made of.

On the season, I'm 13-12 picking high school, which shows how much I know I guess.

Without further adieu, let's go:

The Dogwood Circle Power Rankings (Week 4)

After a week's hiatus, we're back with the latest edition of the Dogwood Circle Power Rankings, where we ranked each football team in the area based not on how they'd match up against one another, but how they match up against their schedule.

For example, Oakwood may be the area's No. 1 team in this week's rankings, but obviously the Panthers wouldn't be Palestine or Westwood. That being said, against the schedule they've played and still have to play, the Panthers could be considered the area's best team.

Now that we've gotten the explanation out of the way, let's get into the rankings.

Friday Night Previews (Week 2)

We're entering the third week of the season, dubiously titled Week 2, and things are beginning to shake themselves out across the local landscape.

There are plenty of teams in need of wins this Friday, all of them really with the possible exceptions of Elkhart and Oakwood, who are both already 2-0.

With that in mind, onward, forward and upward we go.

The Dogwood Circle Power Rankings (Week 2)

Two games are in the books for each of the local teams, and after last week's games there's been a bit of a shakeup in the Power Rankings.

But before we get into this week's rankings, a few thoughts from the first two weeks of the season.

If someone would've told me before the season that there would be two teams that hadn't won a game yet in 2011 after two weeks, I would've said something along the lines of, "sounds about right."

I would not, however, have thought that those two teams would be Frankston and Cayuga. In fact, I'd have been confident that those two teams didn't have losses yet by this point.

In 3A, both Westwood and Palestine are 1-1 — and before I forget, a hardy congrats to the Panthers and Roger Mays, who deserved a W. The Panthers should move to 2-1 on Friday, but more on that in tomorrow's previews.

As for Palestine, the Wildcats should probably be 2-0 and I think everyone around the program knows that. They showed in the second half an ability to both move the football on Pittsburg and stop the Pirate defense, but you can't go back now.

Anyway, on to the rankings.