By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
RIO HONDO, TX—Now that the University Interscholastic League has introduced its biennial realignment, local student-athletes will see minor changes across various sports.
The Falfurrias Jerseys are no longer a district foe in football (District 16-3A, Division I). Weslaco IDEA Pike is gone from RHHS’s basketball (District 32-3A), but remains in volleyball (District 32-3A).
This is the hand RHHS Athletics Director Rocky James, his coaches, and student-athletes have been dealt following the realignment changes announced Monday, Feb. 1.
District 16-3A DI football will include RHHS, Lyford, Progreso, Raymondville, Bishop, San Diego, and Santa Gertrudis.
In basketball, the Bobcats and the state’s current top-ranked Lady ’Cats will be in District 32-3A alongside Lyford, Progreso, Raymondville, Santa Rosa, and IDEA schools Frontier, Riverview, Sports Park, and Robindale.
Only Weslaco IDEA Pike has moved to District 31-3A, which now includes six IDEA and three Vanguard schools.
In volleyball, Weslaco IDEA Pike remains in RHHS’s district.
“We’re very happy with the way the realignment turned out; we thought we were going to gain an extra team, perhaps Orange Grove, but that didn’t happen,” said James, who is also head football coach.
Regarding the two basketball programs, James admits that being grouped with IDEA schools has not been ideal, since IDEA schools are sometimes too small to field teams.
“I would have liked that we didn’t have as many IDEA schools (in district) for our second and third sports,” James said. “There are times they don’t have teams, and there are no games to play.”
Case in point was the Lady ’Cats, who, during district play, almost went three weeks without competing, so forfeits were recorded as victories.
Following the UIL realignment, the next day James announced that the Bobcats would play non-district football teams such as Brownsville Pace (home), Port Isabel, Edcouch-Elsa, and St. Joseph (home).
At the moment, all games are planned except for the Friday game against Port Isabel.
“We’re getting a rivalry going again with Edcouch-Elsa and St. Joe, which is nice, because we haven’t played some of these teams in several years,” Coach James said. “We’re also going up against Pace, and that is a bigger school than us at 5A.”
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