Photo by Jeff Bargas

Dallas Morning News high school sports gurus Greg Riddle and Joseph Hoyt have released their UIL realignment predictions and, if they’re right, enthusiastic supporters of Wildcat athletics may be trading one set of issues for another when the UIL announces the official lineup Feb. 3. The sports writing prognosticators think Lake Highlands and the other 3 Richardson ISD high schools will be grouped with Irving, Irving MacArthur, Irving Nimitz and Jesuit in 9-6A. That’s a big change from 2018-20, when we competed in 8-6A with Duncanville and Dallas ISD’s Skyline, WT White and Molina.

Sign up for our newsletter!

* indicates required

Lake Highlands has shared a district with Jesuit before. They’re tough competitors in virtually every sport, and they made it to regional finals in football this year. Despite protesters who say the all-male private school recruits players and gives scholarships instead of taking whichever residents enroll, Wildcat families mostly enjoy the matchup. Lots of Jesuit students live or go to church in Lake Highlands, and Jesuit coaches Paul Maturi, Royce Slechta and Don Woods all coached or played for LHHS. When it’s Jesuit week, though, the Lady Cats miss out on the fun.

In the past, RISD’s four-school district made sense as a pairing with DISD’s threesome, but Skyline is now the only DISD campus with enough students to remain in 6A. Duncanville played in the state final game twice, but Irving’s three 6A schools have been shut out of the football playoffs in recent years.

If UIL officials are looking for other ideas, they could group RISD with Plano the way we used to be. Riddle and Hoyt put Plano, Plano East and Plano West with northern schools Allen, McKinney, McKinney Boyd and Prosper in 7-6A, but there’s a case to be made for reuniting old foes. We’re nearby, especially if you compare, say, Pearce with Plano East, and we have a history. Jesuit could finish off the 8-school district.

Class 6A will include 249 schools with enrollment of 2,220 or more, and LHHS is now the largest RISD school with 2,772. RHS has 2,771, Berkner has 2,547 and Pearce has 2,386 as of the snapshot date. UIL officials will make their decision public Feb. 3.