SPORTS
UIL releases cutoff numbers for realignment
Released on Friday, the University Interscholastic League put out the official cutoff numbers for conference realignment for the 2024-2026 school years.
Even with a few schools worried about possibly moving up, no area schools changed classification now with the numbers out.
Bowie was never worried about moving up from 3A to 4A, reporting 493 kids and the cutoff for 4A classification being 545. The school was even farther away from dropping down to division II in football, with the 3A division I cutoff number at 369.
Almost as big of news is the departure of state powerhouse Brock, which ended Bowie playoff runs in several sports over the years as the Eagles move up to 4A.
Nocona was ecstatic this time two years ago when it dropped down from 3A to 2A by one student. The Indians have reaped the benefits in almost every sport last year and already this year. Surely Nocona would not get so lucky again.
Well, the school turned in even less than it did two years ago and will stay in 2A for another two years. The cutoff number for 3A was 254 this time and Nocona turned in 234.
Saint Jo was another school that was worried about moving up. The Panthers have been the biggest 1A school in the area and have used that advantage to post great results in recent years in almost every sport.
Moving up to 2A would not just be an increase in competition, but also would mean Saint Jo football players and coaches would be transitioning from six-man football to traditional 11-man for the first time in many years.
Luckily, the Panthers were a few kids under the cutoff number once again. Saint Jo turned in 100.5 and the 2A cutoff was 105.
With the Panthers’ athletic director Mark Stevens retiring at the end of the school year, the next hire will have the benefit of utilizing Saint Jo’s number advantage for at least two more years before people have to worry again about the possibility of moving up.
Every other area school was not worried about moving up from 1A to 2A. However, for Gold-Burg and Forestburg, the two schools were worried about moving up in the football classification from division II to division I.
Forestburg was close, reporting 57 and the cutoff number being 61.5. Gold-Burg was well under reporting 49.
For area schools Bellevue and Prairie Valley that don’t play football, neither were worried about having to move up from 1A to 2A. Both would have to nearly double its enrollment numbers just to start to worry about the possibility as Bellevue turned in 52 and Prairie Valley turned in 45.
The final stage in realignment won’t come until Feb. 1, 2024, when the UIL releases district alignments for 2024-2026.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. To see enrollment numbers for all schools in the state, go to this link https://www.uiltexas.org/press-releases/detail/uil-conference-cutoff-numbers-for-2024-2026-reclassification-realignment.
Two former Bowie boy’s golf members played in the PGA University Championship on Nov. 12-13. (L-R) Cy Egenbacher and Imanol Walker are both in the Sam Houston University PGA Golf Managerment program. The team finished 16th overall. Egenbacher shot 168 during the two rounds and finished tied for 67th. Walker shot 180 and finished 84th. The tournament is a fun one for univesities that have PGA Golf Management programs, which is for individuals who want to work in the golf industry after graduation.
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers came up short at the regional final for the third straight season, one game away from state, on Saturday at the regional tournament in Midlothian.
The Lady Panthers beat Evant in straight sets 3-0 on Friday to reach the final game against Harrold which they lost 3-0.
Saint Jo knew before the season even started it would likely come to this big challenge, but it still had to go through all the steps to get there.
The Panthers reached the regional finals the previous two seasons, losing both times to eventual state champion Blum.
With district realignment meant a new region so a rematch with a Blum program that had graduated several key players from those teams would have to wait until state possibly.
Instead, a showdown against last year’s state runner-up Harrold was forecast in the regional final.
With the team having six seniors, with five of them having been on varsity since they were freshman, it was this year or bust for Saint Jo.
First, the Lady Panthers had to beat Evant. The Lady Elks leaned heavily on a big front court player. When she rotated to the back row, Evant showed almost no net resistance which meant Saint Jo hitters had free reign during that time.
The Lady Panthers won each set pretty easily, with the scores being 25-17, 25-17 and 25-19.
This set up the match with Harrold the team had been anticipating. The Lady Hornets had been at or near the top of the state standings since the beginning of the season.
Harrold had so much respect it had even played bigger local schools this season, beating Bowie in straight sets and Nocona in five sets during its pre-district schedule.
The two teams had met earlier in the season when the Lady Hornets attended Saint Jo’s hosted tournament. The two teams met in the tournament championship where Harrold won 2-1.
Still, with the tournament format being a best of three instead of five and the match after playing an exhausting schedule of five matches the previous two days, that result was not gospel, especially two months later.
The challenge is Harrold had multiple big hitters at the net, which is a big deal since most 1A teams are lucky to have one or two, which meant constant pressure on Saint Jo’s defense.
This also meant the Lady Panthers constantly had to find ways to attack the Lady Hornet defense as well or it would face strong hit after strong hit which was unsustainable for any team.
The first set saw the Lady Hornets get out to a good start before the Lady Panthers rallied back and took a little lead 8-7. Unfortunately, it started turn from there.
Harrold had some good runs from the service line that Saint Jo struggled to make much offense out of and led to the Lady Hornets pulling away. Harrold won 4-1 to get the lead to 11-9 and then extended it to 14-11, 17-13. Another 4-1 run and the Lady Hornets could smell the end of the first set coming.
The Lady Hornets won 25-17 to take the lead 1-0.
Saint Jo needed to bounce back, but unfortunately never got anything going in set two.
Harrold led 4-1 and then 8-2. The Lady Panthers would have needed a huge run at some point from the service line to get back into the set, but it never came as the Lady Hornets lead grew more and more.
Harrold took set two 25-13 to go up 2-0 and had all of the momentum.
Saint Jo had its back against the wall, knowing the only option was to hope for a comeback that would lead to a fifth set, but to get there it needed to win set three.
The Lady Panthers initially started on the right foot. After falling being 4-1 to start the previous two sets, it was Saint Jo that started well up 4-1. Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets came roaring back, going on an 8-2 run as it led 9-6, then 12-8 and 15-10.
It looked like it was heading towards a similar place as set one with Harrold slowly running away with the set before the Lady Panthers made one last gasp.
Saint Jo eventually cut the lead down to one point, trailing 20-19 as the set entered the final stretch and the Lady Panthers had their best momentum of the match.
Unfortunately, it was Harrold that was able to close the set out with momentum, earning the final five points to win 25-19 and the match 3-0.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For pictures from Friday’s match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870620&T=1
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