High School Sports

By SHANE STARK
Staff Writer

As expected, Class 4A has a new face in East Texas.

On Friday, Longview dropped from Class 5A in the University Interscholastic League's biennial realignments and reclassifications for football and basketball.

Longview reported an enrollment of 2,005 students, missing the 5A cutoff by 80. The 4A range of enrollment was 980 to 2,084 students.

In football, Longview moved from one of the state's premier 5A districts into one of 4A's strongest.

The Lobos, winners of 22 straight district games in 5A, will compete in District 13-4A with Hallsville, Pine Tree, Marshall, Mount Pleasant, Sulphur Springs and Texas High.

Marshall and Texas High have contested for state championships during recent years, while Sulphur Springs has one of the nation's top 2009 recruits in quarterback Tyrik Rollison.

"It's mixed emotions...it's kind of an eerie feeling," said Longview head coach John King. "We will build some new friendships with the new coaches we will be in the district with."

Longview and Marshall are longtime archrivals, while Longview and Pine Tree are cross-town rivals.

"I think that's going to add something to the Marshall game because there's going to be a district championship on the line," King said. "And if we are going to be a 4A school, we ought to play our cross-town rival. I think it will be big for both schools, and will be big for Longview."

Longview's move to 4A, and Paris and Paris North Lamar's drop to 3A caused a shakeup in the two northern East Texas districts.

Marshall, Pine Tree and Hallsville split from their former district rivals, leaving a six-team District 14-4A from which four teams will qualify for the playoffs. The league consists of Henderson, Jacksonville, Kilgore, Lindale, Nacogdoches and Whitehouse.

Lindale, which also split from its former district, reported an enrollment of 987 students to miss the 3A cutoff by eight students. Lindale head coach Mike Meador took consolidation in the Eagles moving into a league with schools closer in proximity than their previous district.

"We were kind of hoping we would go to 3A," Meador said. "We heard rumors that they were going to try and get the numbers to 3A up. We're happy because Whitehouse, Jacksonville and Kilgore are a lot closer than Paris and Texas High."

Kilgore head coach Mike Vallery believed the range of enrollment in 4A is too big.

"The thing I don't like about realignment is the numbers," he said. "We are a 4A school and Henderson is a 4A school. You could combine our two schools and make one school out of it, and we would still be a 4A school."