Change is in the air for area schools

A look at some notable changes in high school sports after the University Interscholastic League’s biannual realignment:

Cy-Fair ISD splits

The day’s biggest shock came from Cypress Fairbanks ISD, where 12 schools are split and in two different regions — seven in Region II-6A and the other five in Region III-6A.

A loaded district

Seven of the eight teams in the new 10-5A Division I district made the playoffs last year – Angleton, Hightower, Foster, Galveston Ball, Friendswood, Terry and Texas City.

Humble moves up

Humble is up to Class 6A, sharing with Humble ISD brethren Atascocita, Kingwood and Summer Creek along with the Pasadena ISD group.

Conroe and Klein ISDs meet

Conroe and Klein ISDs form an interesting league in Region II-6A, highlighted by The Woodlands and Klein Collins.

A step up

Port Arthur Memorial, New Caney, Porter and Kingwood Park will be tough competition for an improved Houston Austin team in District 9-5A Division I.

Biggest winner

Manvel looked like a Class 6A team playing in Class 5A last year. The Mavericks will be an overwhelming Division II favorite in District 11-5A with HISD schools Madison, Milby, Northside, Sharpstown, Sterling and Waltrip and familiar faces in Fort Bend Marshall and Willowridge.

Biggest losers

The UIL wasn’t kind to some of Houston’s newest schools. Shadow Creek’s first full varsity season is in 10-5A Division I, where it will try to test seven playoff teams from a year ago. Katy Paetow and Montgomery Lake Creek have to travel a bit with A&M Consolidated, Cleveland, Bryan Rudder, Lamar Consolidated and Huntsville on tap in 10-5A Division II.

The UIL’s biannual reclassification and realignment didn’t simply break apart the 10-team all-Cypress-Fairbanks ISD district — a Houston-area fixture since 2008 — it also launched them into different regions.

Cy-Fair, Cypress Creek, Cypress Ridge, Cypress Falls and Jersey Village remain in Region III, in District 17-6A. Cypress Lakes, Cypress Ranch, Cypress Springs, Cypress Woods and Langham Creek, along with new high school Cypress Park, migrate to Region II where they join Tomball Memorial, Bryan and Bridgeland in 14-6A.

Changing regions isn’t unprecedented for Cy-Fair’s schools. They switched three times between 2004 and 2010.

Cy-Fair, the reigning 6A Division II football champions, stayed in Region III, joining the four Spring Branch schools — Memorial, Northbrook, Spring Woods and Stratford — to form a nineteam grouping.

The teams that went to Region II will face a much different playoff path, with potential trips to the Dallas or Austin areas, northeast to Longview or almost anywhere in between.

With the Cy-Fair schools going from a giant 10-team district to two nine-team groupings, they now need an extra non-district game. Cy Ranch promptly responded by scheduling Austin Westlake in Week 2.

Good news, bad news for Katy ISD schools

Realignment produced an allKaty ISD district for the first time in nine years, with Strake Jesuit going to 23-6A, leaving Katy, Cinco Ranch, Mayde Creek, Morton Ranch, Seven Lakes, Katy Taylor and Tompkins in 19-6A.

That doesn’t mean athletic director Debbie Decker’s job is any easier.

New high school Paetow begins varsity competition in Class 5A next fall — and that’s 10-5A Division II for football, 19-5A for volleyball and different opponents in each sport — giving Katy ISD schools in two UIL classifications for the first time since 2007.

“Scheduling those seven (6As) will be pretty simple, but then when you throw Paetow in the mix, we’re going to Montgomery, Huntsville, College Station, and some of those places, so the trickiness comes back into play,” Decker said.

Katy, The Woodlands won’t play this year

Katy ousted 2016 regional champ Atascocita and 2015 state champ North Shore en route to the Class 6A Division I semifinals last year. The Tigers will face both teams before opening district play next season.

Katy coach Gary Joseph also left the meeting thinking he was renewing with The Woodlands in Week 3, but that’s not the case.

“I was driving home from the thing, and somebody said, ‘The Woodlands got into a nine-team district,’ and I said, ‘I didn’t even look at their district,’ ” Joseph said. “He told me beforehand they might be, but they didn’t come say anything after it came out, and I didn’t think about it.”

Instead, The Woodlands is facing Cy-Fair and Lamar in nondistrict.

Now Joseph is scrambling to find a different non-district opponent for weeks 3 or 5 — and not having much luck so far.

Humble is in the UIL’s highest class for the first time since 2009-10, rejoining Kingwood, Atascocita and Summer Creek in the new 22-6A, along with the five Pasadena schools.

But competing at the 6A level will present challenges for the Wildcats, who are only 89 students over the 6A cutoff of 2,190.