Canton, County Foes Stay Together In Realignment

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) kept together Canton and its Class 3A county rivals Van and Wills Point in the biennial realignment announced Monday morning.

Reunited two years ago into District 14-3A, Van Zandt County’s three largest high schools will get another two years of competition with one another for both athletic and academic honors. The new realignment will be effective for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.

It is the rest of the new District 14-3A that is different.

Lindale returns to Class 3A next year after several years as a Class 4A school. Joining Canton, Van, Wills Point and Lindale will be Quinlan Ford and Rains, both currently in District 13-3A.

Interim Canton High School Athletic Director Wes Rhoten admitted he was a little stunned to see Lindale, Quinlan Ford and Rains join the three Van Zandt County schools in a district.

"This one kind of surprised me, because I thought if Lindale came down to 3A they would probably take us and Van with Brownsboro and Bullard, down in that direction," Rhoten said. "But to see Lindale along with Quinlan Ford and Rains was something of a shock to me.

"It’s a welcome shock, though…There will be a lot of tough games but I feel we are competitive with any of these teams," he said.

As was expected by many observers before the announcement, current District 14-3A members Eustace and Mineola turned in enrollment numbers low enough to drop both into Class 2A for the next two years. The other current district member, Kemp, will be part of a new District 13-3A that includes Mabank (another school dropping from Class 4A), Kaufman, Crandall, new school North Forney and Ferris.

The new District 14-3A should be a highly competitive one in football the next two seasons. Lindale won its district last fall in Class 4A, Wills Point took the District 13-3A title last season, Van won a district title in 2008 and was district runner-up last season, and Quinlan Ford produced a first-round playoff upset of Van back in November.

Rhoten noted two other considerations the new alignment will help, those being travel time and subvarsity programs.

"As far as travel goes, it’s pretty similar to what we had, and there wasn’t much travel in the last district. Van is pretty much the center point for everybody…You’re talking 45-minute trips maximum for everybody," he said.

"What is real appealing, also, is that every school will have seventh and eighth grade, freshman and JV programs," Rhoten added. "With this district numbers-wise, we will be able to have a team for all our kids to play."

The bottom cutoff number for Class 3A remained at 430, the first time since 2002 it did not rise. The top enrollment number for Class 3A rose for the third straight time, but only by 10 students to 989.