February 1st, 2016 was a date anticipated by many of Jesuit’s student-athletes as they anxiously awaited the announcement of the new UIL district alignments for 2016-2018.
Every two years, the UIL reclassifies and realigns districts, shuffling the competition for area schools. Jesuit’s 2016 District 9-6A will include Coppell, RISD school’s Richardson, JJ Pearce, Richardson Berkner, Lake Highlands, and continue rivalries with Skyline and W.T. White that have survived the last 4 district alignments. Another notable change in the district is the separation from Sunset, which has been in Jesuit’s district since 2010.
The new district alignments, effective at the start of the 2016-17 school year with the 2016 football season, will remain through the 2017-18 school year, culminating with Spring 2018 baseball. Jesuit teams are not unfamiliar with the Richardson schools, as they faced off as district opponents in the previous 2012-14 alignment. Head Football Coach Brandon Hickman said, “We have a great relationship with the Richardson school district from previous years and Coppell who we have played in the past years non-district.”
Coppell will bring strong competition in all sports as they are currently first in their district in basketball and soccer, and they are ranked first in the state of Texas by many in baseball for this season. Their previous district included powerhouses Euless Trinity and Southlake Carroll. Richardson leads district 10-6A in basketball, and Pearce is also in the top 4. “It will be competitive across the board in all of our sports,” Hickman said. “Our players are looking forward to the opportunity to compete in 9-6A.”
Head soccer coach Charlie Delong commented on the strength of the new district, saying that he is “familiar with all of the coaches and programs,” and that the combination of the RISD and DISD schools and Coppell will present “an interesting combination” for the next two seasons, and “challenge all of [Jesuit’s] teams.” He also noted that the Richardson schools are closer than the 2014-16 Irving group, and he hopes that games against the new district foes will draw larger crowds for the upcoming seasons.
After realignment placed Coppell in the same district as Jesuit, the football team was forced to replace their preseason non-district matchup, previously against Coppell, with a contest against Desoto. Hickman commented that “It says a lot about our program and coaching staff that top teams in the state want to play us,” and that he tries to “schedule to prepare our kids for district and into the playoffs where you eventually see a team like Lake Travis like we did in 2013 or a Rockwall like the last three years.”
Football season will offer the first look at the new competition, highlighted by the September 23rd district home opener against Coppell.
On preparing for a more difficult schedule for the 2016 season that will include perennial state championship contenders Desoto and Lake Travis, as well as the new district foes, Hickman said, “Our kids do not back down from competition” and “eventually, you will face the teams and hopefully by playing them early you are better prepared later down the road.” The realigned districts for the next 2 years will pose a challenge for Jesuit athletics, but it is one that the teams will embrace.
