Live updates: Austin-area high schools face impacts from UIL realignment, reclassification

Austin-area UIL schools find out their district and classification assignments for the next two years in the organization's biennial process that determines opponents, travel and a handful of other things.

Follow this thread for our continuing realignment coverage as we break down the changes and what they mean for Austin-area schools:

District 11-5A Division II

Crockett

LASA

McCallum

Navarro

Bastrop

Elgin

Liberty Hill

Pflugerville

Connally

Comment: There's only one Class 5A Division II district in the Austin area and it has nine teams. Liberty Hill figures to be the initial favorite, but after that the race for the playoffs could be wide open and change drastically on a week-to-week basis. There will be plenty of interesting matchups, but the road to the playoffs just got a lot tougher for McCallum and Crockett.

Austin ISD rivalries broken up

Realignment has halted some Austin ISD rivalries.

Crockett coach Darrick Norton told The Statesman's Rick Cantu that the Cougars won't be able to play Northeast and LBJ in non-district games after both of those schools dropped to Class 4A.

"I'll miss playing them," he said.

Cedar Park, Georgetown fill non-district schedules

Cedar Park will play Vandegrift, Harker Heights and Huntsville.

Georgetown will face Victoria East, Belton and Copperas Cove.

Lake Travis has 3 non-district opponents so far

The Cavs will face Cibolo Steele, Midland Legacy and Arlington Martin prior to District 26-6A play. They need one more game.

District 12-5A Division I

Anderson

Cedar Creek

Hays

Lehman

Lockhart

Weiss

Hendrickson

College Station

A&M Consolidated

Comment: A nine-team district that includes College Station and A&M Consolidated means playoff berths will definitely be earned. There will be a lot of fun games in this district, including a renewing of the Weiss-Hendrickson rivalry that drew more than 6,000 fans in its first two meetings. It will be interesting to see how Anderson fares dropping down from Class 6A, but the Trojans figure to have a shot at the postseason.

District 8-5A Division I

Cedar Park

Georgetown

East View

Killeen Chaparral

Lake Belton

Leander

Glenn

Rouse

Comment: Hello Region II. The teams that make the playoffs out of this district head north, with Highland Park being a possible first-round opponent. The four Leander ISD schools are in the same district for the first time. Travel isn't terrible, and this district is solid from top to bottom.

District 26-6A

Austin High

Akins

Bowie

Del Valle

Dripping Springs

Lake Travis

Westlake

Comment: The district loses Johnson to the south and Anderson to Class 5A and will only have seven teams. Why UIL didn't take a team from District 25 and add it here to make two eight-team districts in the Austin area defies logic. Scheduling really opens up for these schools as now they have to find four nondistrict games instead of two. Lake Travis and Westlake already had issues finding two nondistrict opponents, so it will be interesting to see how much travel they have to do. Though Anderson and Johnson are gone, Dripping Springs still figures to be Division II if it makes the playoffs.

District 25-6A

Vandegrift

Vista Ridge

Hutto

Manor

Round Rock

McNeil

Stony Point

Westwood

Cedar Ridge

Comment: Hutto returns to an Austin-area district as it joins District 25-6A to make it nine teams. This district was already extremely difficult, and the Hippos joining makes it even more so. Just making the playoffs will be a challenge. However, these schools won't have any scheduling headaches.

Johnson shipped south

Johnson will be doing plenty of traveling. The Hays County school got shipped south into District 29-6A with San Marcos and other schools around the San Antonio area in Cibolo Steele, Schertz Clemens, Converse Judson, San Antonio East Central and Comal Canyon. It's not a bad thing to get away from Dripping Springs, Lake Travis and Westlake, but its closest district opponent is now 24 miles away. There will be some late nights for the Jaguars.

Westlake to open vs. Dallas Prosper

Westlake will begin its 2024 season vs. Dallas Prosper at Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton on Aug. 30.

Longtime coach considering whether it's his last year

Stony Point coach Craig Chessher told The Statesman's Rick Cantu that the upcoming season could be his last. It's not definite, but after roughly two decades at the school, Chessher is considering retirement.

Anderson, Weiss dropping to Class 5A

After spending the current cycle in Class 6A, Anderson and Weiss are dropping back to Class 5A and will be Division I in football.

The Trojans were one of the three smallest Class 6A schools in the state, and Weiss wasn’t much larger.

For Anderson, it gets away from Lake Travis and Westlake, but likely still encounters a tough district.

Weiss will be one of the more intriguing teams to look next fall in football at as it should be an immediate contender to win a district title and make a deep playoff run.

Plenty of schools moving up to Class 5A Division I

Cedar Creek, Hays, Lehman, Lockhart, Glenn and Rouse were in Class 5A Division II for football the current cycle and will jump up a division in the fall.

Cedar Park, Leander, Glenn and Rouse could all be in a district for the first time, with Leander being one of the biggest Class 5A schools in the state as it’s only four below the Class 6A cutoff.

Number of area Class 4A teams jumps

The Austin area will have a significant presence in Class 4A

LBJ, Travis, Eastside and Northeast are all dropping to Class 4A and will be in Division I for football.

Austin Achieve will also be Division I, as will Manor New Tech.

Whether they’re all put in the same district will be interesting to see.

A good summary of classification moves for the Austin area can be found here.

The UIL football cutoff numbers for 2024-25

∙ Class 6A: 2,275 & above

∙ Class 5A Division I: 1,903 to 2,274

∙ Class 5A Division II: 1,315 to 1,902

∙ Class 4A Division I: 957 to 1,314

∙ Class 4A Division II: 545 to 956

∙ Class 3A Division I: 369 to 544

∙ Class 3A Division II: 254 to 368

∙ Class 2A Division I: 181.5 to 253

∙ Class 2A Division II: 105 to 181.4

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UIL realignment, reclassification shifts Austin-area high school map