Sports Shorts - 11/9

UIL Snapshot: Cameron on the verge of move to 4A?

The UIL’s annual snapshot day recently took place on October 27. On that day, all schools across the state of Texas submitted their enrollment numbers to the UIL for what is known as the bi-annual realignment.

For a majority of schools, there is little excitement, as it is known that the chances of moving classifications is slim. That will not be the case for Cameron, which recently turned in a number of 488.

The cut off from 3A division one to 4A division II two years ago was 479. If that number were to remain the same, Cameron would be heading back up to their old stomping grounds. Two years ago, the number rose from 464 to 479, a 15 student increase. If that were to happen again this go around and the number rose to 494, Cameron would remain in 3A. It’s really anybody’s guess at this point, and at the end of the day it will probably be a 50/50 chance either way.

No other team in Cameron’s current district is a threat to go up. Little River Academy (454) and Rockdale (453) are the next largest schools.

These numbers are now more readily available than ever, so there are some “experts” that will often give it a shot at what they think will play out.

Matt Stepp of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and Carl Padilla of the Padilla Poll both have their current number at 484. Padilla originally had his prediction at 489, but as more numbers have poured in, that number has decreased slightly.

The one thing to remember is that the UIL would like to have at least 200 schools in each classification. Some notable current 4A schools: Bonham (488), Denver City (487), Tatum (482), Emory Rains (479), Atlanta (478), Columbus (476), Gladewater (474).

The UIL will not make 4A smaller as it's already the smallest classification, and having this many current 4A schools that have the same or lower enrollment as Cameron makes it seem that it would be more difficult to stay down. Yes, there will be some schools that drop from the top end of 5A, but everything must balance out in the end.

We should know what the actual cutoff numbers are sometime in December. The new districts will be announced in February.

UIL Band at State

Their is not a grander stage for marching bands than the finals of the state marching contest at the Alamodome in San Antonio. For the fourth straight year, the C.H. Yoe High School Marching Band made an appearance, and represented the community well, finishing in fifth place overall from a field of over 190 3A bands across the state.

Cameron had to beat out 10 other bands in the prelims, and did so by finishing in 6^th place with 26 points. Clifton, the band which Cameron went back-and-forth with at area last week, also finished with 26 points.

After the announcement of the final top bands, Cameron had no time to waste as they were set to perform first at 7:15. Final results were announced at approximately 10:00 p.m.

Cameron jumped Clifton in the final rankings. The full results: 1. Mineola (13), 2. Farmersville (14), 3. Whitesboro (15), 4. Queen City (26), 5. Cameron Yoe (28), 6. New Diana (31), 7. Clifton (33), 8. New Boston (33), 9. Howe (37), 10. Tolar (45).

Actual scoring for Cameron: music (3, 4, 5); marching (9, 7). Mineola's point totals: music (1, 1, 4); marching (5, 2).

The Yoe band finished 3^rd in 2011, 2^nd in 2013, 6^th in 2015 and now 5^th in 2017 to add to an impressive steak of state runs.

Mineola director Chris Brannan adds on to his lofty status as of one of the top directors in the state. Brannan was at Queen City for a number of years and won three consecutive state championships before leaving for Mineola after the school district decided to cut one of the positions in the music department.

20-3A Volleyball finishes playoff run

The run for the teams out of 20-3A has ended in the regional quarterfinal round of the playoffs. Academy was the lone team in the third round, and lost to traditional powerhouse Leon on Tuesday night, 3-1. Lexington's loss to West (3-1) and Rockdale's defeat to Troy (3-0) left the district with just two teams remaining after the first round. Rogers, which had only lost one match all season, defeated Groesbeck (3-0) before falling surprisingly hard to Maypearl (3-0) in the area round. All-District awards will be released shortly.