New district nothing to fret

The University Interscholastic League released the 2014-2016 district realignments on Feb. 3. Allen moved up to 6A, and is now districted with the three Plano high schools, McKinney Boyd, Lewisville, Hebron, Flower Mound and Flower Mound Marcus. Below are the teams’ football records during the regular season.

District Champions. That’s all the Allen football team has known since 2006. And with the new district alignments, nothing should change.

UIL announced the finalized list for the new classes and districts, effective in the 2014-15 school year, on Feb. 3. They eliminated the title of “6-man” for smaller schools, and have since moved them up to a 1A classification. New student enrollment cutoff numbers were released as well, stating that to be considered 6A, a school must have at least 2,100 enrolled students. All 5A and 6A school will no longer be divided into regions either. With these changes, from 2014 to 2016 Allen will be considered a 6A high school.

Now that Allen has moved up a division, some people believe our momentum may be halted and the current championship streak will come to an end. Definitely not true. If anything, this shift gives Allen’s athletic teams greater drive to perform well, knowing that they will be competing against larger schools with significantly bigger talent pool. Just because certain teams dropped out of our district and some were added does not mean athletes won’t train with the same tenacity, if not more. The pregame preparation and focus during a game coming from the Allen players matter more than who is on the other side. They are simply another opponent on the schedule.

Yes, some teams may require more work than others. But of the eight other teams in the new district, four are teams we faced and defeated both last year and this year. And the remaining four have previously been districted with Allen. None of these schools are completely new to any Allen athletic team and this sense of familiarity should be taken with a smile. I mean, Allen is the only team in District 6 to bring home a football state championship since 2005-when Hebron won the 4A Division II title. But we defeated them last year, narrow victory or not.

When you think about it, Allen is the school of overcoming adversity. We lost a heartbreaker to Coppell in 2012, but came back the next week stronger and made our way to a state title. That drive continued on into the next season and they were perfect. Literally, 12-0. When a senior class graduates, there are prepped and ready junior and sophomore classes stepping up and taking charge. The same is expected for next season despite the new district because two key parts of the team are staying the same-the quarterback and the head coach. With Kyler Murray taking the snaps and Tom Westerberg calling the shots, not much can go wrong for the Eagles, no matter who the opponent may be.

Shifting from a 5A Division I school to not only the largest 6A school, but the largest high school in the state with 5,987 students, is not something to be taken lightly. Football analysts and college scouts will have their eyes fixated on these teams for the next two school years like it’s nobody’s business. But that is to be expected with high school football in Texas. And as big of a deal as it may be, it’s truly not anything for Allen to worry about. No matter who the foe, the Eagles know how to work hard and come out victorious, something everyone here has grown accustomed to.