The University Interscholastic League released the official sports district realignments on Thursday morning for the 2022-2024 school years.
While only one area team switched classifications when those numbers were announced back in December, there were still some surprises for schools.
For Bowie, the football team was finally not sorted with state power Brock along with any of the other schools the Jackrabbits have played the last four seasons.
Unfortunately, Bowie traded one state power for another as it is in a district with Jim Ned. On top of that it is nearly a three-hour road trip and that starts to tell the story of this new football district for the Jackrabbits. Other teams include Breckenridge, Clyde, Iowa Park and Vernon.
Basketball and volleyball won’t be that different for Bowie. The district is losing Nocona and Breckenridge while gaining Iowa Park and Vernon. Both new additions are schools coming down from the 4A classification.
For Nocona, everything will be new for the newly classified 2A Indian teams. In football, Nocona joins a district with Alvord, Tioga, Tom Bean, Trenton and Whitewright. In basketball the Indians are in a district with Archer City, Olney, Petrolia, Seymour and Windthorst.
Coach Blake Crutsinger was not surprised with the group of schools they are paired with and is overall pleased with the logistics as well.
The size of the volleyball district gives Nocona some pause. With only Alvord, Chico and Poolville in the district, scheduling will be different than it has been in the past. The 2A teams used to play 1A teams as part of its district schedule, but that was done away with heading into the next two school years.
Those who are most happy for that are all of the state’s 1A teams who had to deal with their teams getting routinely beaten by the much bigger schools twice a season for half of their district games.
All four of the county’s 1A volleyball schools: Gold-Burg, Forestburg, Prairie Valley and Saint Jo are now in the same district with no one else. All four have played each other even when they weren’t in the same district over the years as well as compete in every other sport.
Even though the district is small and scheduling will have to be figured out in new ways, the thrill to be done with playing a lot of 2A schools in district is worth it.
Football is different for all three of the county’s six-man teams. Saint Jo is out from its usual district and is placed with Union Hill as well as Savoy and Campbell.
The Panthers have juiced up their pre-district schedule the past two years and have played Union Hill, but Coach Mark Stevens said the plan was to cut off the series due to the schools being more than three hours apart.
For Gold-Burg and Forestburg football teams, a district title will be hard to come by with the reigning state champs Strawn being in the district. They will be joined by Newcastle.
One thing remains the same for all of the area’s 1A schools though. The seven team basketball district, with almost half the schools not playing football and volleyball, is still the same.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. To see all of the state’s new districts you can go to the uiltexas.org/alignments.