May and Santa Anna will be paired in the new District 14 along with Lometa, Evant, and Jonesboro, who were formerly matched in district with Zephyr, which dropped to Class 2A Division II.
“It’s not an easy district, the UIL didn’t do us any favors,” Steele said. “You got three playoff teams from last year and Santa Anna gets better every year and is getting closer to that point. Evant, we played them last year and they had some good athletes. We met Jonesboro the last two years in the second round of the playoffs so that’s not going to happen, we’ll see them a lot earlier. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Further analyzing the district, Steele said, “I thought there could be some changes but I didn’t see this happening. In fact, I lost two non-district games when it came out. I was surprised we lost Gorman and not only are they not in the same district, they’re not in the same region and they’re only 25 miles away, which is weird. I guess the UIL decided it was time to make a change.”
Zephyr will be residing in the Class A Division II ranks along with county schools Blanket and Brookesmith for the next two years. Both Blanket and Zephyr will help comprise the new District 15 along with Gustine, Mullin and Sidney. Brookesmith finds itself in District 16 with Richland Springs, Cherokee, Rochelle and Lohn.
In sports outside of football, May is also alone in regard to Brown County schools, but will be facing the same league foes – Baird, Clyde, Eula, Cross Plains, Moran, and Rising Star – in District 13-A.
Brookesmith will reside in District 17-A along with Cherokee, Lohn, Lometa, Richland Springs, and Rochelle.
Competing in District 18-A will be Blanket, Zephyr, Evant, Gustine, Mullin, Priddy, and Sidney.