The University Interscholastic League provided an early Christmas gift to some high school athletic programs, and coal in the stockings of others as classifications cutoff numbers were released Wednesday morning. Those numbers determine what classifications each school will be in, while districts will be revealed on Feb. 3, 2022.

For Early, the news was definitely a welcome gift as the Longhorns will be dropping down to Class 3A Division II in football. In all other sports, the Longhorns and Lady Horns will remain Class 3A as they have been for more than a decade.

With the drop to 3A Division II, Early will avoid a potential football district pairing in Division I with Brock and Jim Ned. Instead, the Longhorns could be facing district opponents such as Comanche, Dublin, and Eastland to the east, or Wall, Ballinger, San Angelo TLCA, and Grape Creek to the west.

“We were really excited to see we came in at the 3A Division II number,” said Early head football coach and athletic director Daniel Price. “We knew we were going to be close. It really changes your outlook on life going from the district we’ve been in the last four years with Jim Ned, Breckenridge and Clyde and having that type of competition with the numbers we’ve had. We were pretty close to 70 kids less than all three of them and then you go to the playoffs and get Brock and you’re less than 100 kids from what they have.”

Early turned in 357 students enrolled to the UIL, and the cutoff number between Division I and II was 360. Two years ago, the number was 350 and if it had remained, the Longhorns would have stayed in Division I.

“I was really surprised,” Price said. “Both Dave Campbell and Carl Padilla put out their predictions and they both had us being the smallest school in Division I. We were trying to stay optimistic and felt like we had a chance, but those two organizations do a lot of research and spend a lot of time around Texas high school football. When they put out their numbers, they don’t miss a whole lot of times but we were thankful they did.”

In Bangs, the Dragons and Lady Dragons will change classifications completely with the drop to Class 2A.

“We thought we were going to be one of the smallest 3A schools in general,” said Bangs head football coach and athletic director Kyle Maxfield. “It’s going to help our district as a whole to compete against schools closer to our enrollment, especially in the winter and spring sports. It will be good to be on the other end of things for a change as far as numbers, but it definitely doesn’t guarantee anything”

When it comes to football, however, the Dragons could find themselves in an even tougher district despite the move to Class 2A Division I. Schools that Bangs could be paired with come Feb. 1 include Cisco, Coleman, Goldthwaite, and San Saba.

“It’s definitely something that was unexpected for us just based on the history of the alignment numbers. That was quite a big jump,” Maxfield said. “We looked at it this morning, and we could go any direction I feel like, but (Cisco, Coleman, Goldthwaite, and San Saba) makes the most sense. But any time I think I’ve got the UIL figured out they do something else, like this morning.”

Bangs submitted 246 students to the UIL and the cutoff between 2A and 3A was 250. The cutoff number between 2A and 3A two years ago was 230 students.

The only other change for Brown County schools is Zephyr will compete at the Class A Division II level in football the next two seasons, joining Blanket and Brookesmith. May is now the lone football team from the county in Class A Division I.

The Brownwood Lions, meanwhile, remained a Class 4A Division I football program and 4A in all other sports.