Unless you’re at the games, you’re really missing out by not joining us on the live game blogs. There have been some lively discussions among our readers between game updates. It’s become a cool place to hang out and talk LH football.
I don’t always have time to join in the discussion, or even answer questions if the game gets hectic, so I thought I would adress a couple of items brought up Thursday night by our blog participants.
First, reader Greg commented that Southlake Carroll has an enrollment "over 4000." This is a common misconception about Carroll. Actually, Carroll’s UIL enrollment figure is 2,544.5 students (don’t ask about the .5 – it’s a formula). A lot of people think Carroll is a huge school, but it wasn’t that long ago that Carroll was a 3A power. Yes, Southlake has boomed and the Dragons do have great participation in the football program, but Carroll’s success is not because of its size.
By the way, LH’s enrollment number is 2,331.
Another reader, SHB, commented that they wished LH would drop down to 4A so the Cats could be in a district with Highland Park and Pearce. SHB thought this district would be "more competitive" and "geographically tighter."
First, LH went three rounds deep in the Class 5A playoffs last season. So I don’t think the program is suffering from a lack of competition.
For rest of my response, please click on the link to the jump page.
Second, if LH were to drop down to 4A, guess who has the most 4A teams in close proximity to Lake Highlands? The DISD. Instead of playing Sunset and Molina, LH could be playing teams like Bryan Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
And if LH were aligned into the Pearce-Highland Park district that is gerrymandered to avoid the DISD, that district currenlty includes Rockwall, Royse City and Greenville. That’s not very geographically tight.
Sure, it would be fun to play old rivals Pearce and Highland Park. I’d like to see both permanently on LH’s non-district schedule because Pearce is an RISD team and Highland Park is a natural and traditional rival.
But as long as LH is able to be competitive and is in a balanced district (i.e, not one with four schools boasting 4,000 or more students), the Wildcats should continue to compete at the highest level. There are always going to be overmatched opponents in any district – when I was in school they were Newman Smith and R.L. Turner.
When games like last week’s 68-0 blowout come around, it’s not LH that should consider dropping to a lower classification. That schools like Sunset have 5A enrollment numbers but can’t realistically compete at a 5A level is a DISD problem, not an LH problem. Ideally, the UIL would allow waivers for schools that met certain criteria to drop to a lower classification.
