UIL adds 6A conference; Marble Falls now 5A, while Burnet and Llano are 4A
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — Despite the University Interscholastic League creating a 6A classification, local athletic teams won’t see any shakeup in their conference assignments — only the names.
The UIL announced conference cutoff numbers Dec. 2.
Class 5A schools with an enrollment of 2,100 and more students now will be in the new Class 6A. Class 1A now will be comprised of six-man football teams.
Despite little change in the enrollment numbers at Marble Falls High School — 1,125 students — it will compete in Class 5A, which will be made up of schools with 1,060-1,209 students.
“Basically, we stay right where we are,” said Marble Falls High school athletic director and football coach Todd Dodge. “I don’t know what district we’ll be in.”
Llano, with an enrollment of 496, will be a member of Class 4A Division II.
“That’s about where we heard it was going to be,” Llano head coach Craig Slaughter said. “We definitely have been preaching it doesn’t matter.”
Burnet, at 924, is now a member of Class 4A Division I.
“That was about what I thought it was going to be,” Burnet head football coach Kurt Jones said. “I can’t say I was real surprised.”
Superintendents of the new Class 4A voted to put schools in the same districts that had similar enrollments at the beginning of district play starting in 2014-2015. Currently, schools compete in districts based on proximity and enrollment. Once the top four teams qualify for the playoffs, their enrollment numbers are used to determine whether they play in Division I or Division II.
Slaughter said what will help his squad is that chances are very good the Yellow Jackets will see more teams that have two-way starters on both sides of the ball. Just like Marble Falls, Llano plays district opponents that outnumber it in enrollment by a 2-to-1 ratio.
Football is the only sport that is divided between Divisions I and II. The UIL conducted a study and discovered most of the championships in football were won by teams that had the largest enrollments, Slaughter said. The study also noted other sports weren’t affected by enrollment, he added.
Jones said the only questions left won’t be answered until the UIL announces members of each district Feb. 3 for football and basketball.
“We’re right where we have been in terms of classification,” he said. “I don’t know that we were shocked. I guess the only question will be what region and district are we in?”
jfierro@thepicayune.com