After the University Interscholastic League’s recent legislative decision earlier this month, there’s a chance that local athletic teams could have a better chance at winning state.
The UIL announced that it has approved a proposal to split each classification into two divisions once the playoffs start.
Four teams make the playoffs from each district and once the postseason begins, the two largest enrollment schools will go Division I or big school, while the two smaller schools will go Division II or small school.
Sports affected are volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball and baseball. Football will stay the same, but there have been two state champs in each classification for three decades.
The whole point of the move is to allow some of the smaller schools in each classification a better chance when going into the playoffs since they’ll be facing schools with similar size enrollments.
Because of the split, one of the playoff rounds – the regional quarterfinals – will be eliminated and so will regional tournaments. The state finals have been in the seventh round of the playoffs, but now a team can reach the championship game in six rounds. Each state tournament will consist of state finals only and not include state semifinals as previously done.
There was talk of the UIL adding a 7A classification, but this will keep it at six different classifications – 1A through 6A – for now.
The changes will take place right away and there will be two state champions in each classification starting with volleyball.
