By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Monday, February 5, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) released the new 2026-2028 football, basketball and volleyball alignments.
The two-part process involves the schools involved in UIL competition send in their enrollment numbers on October 31, 2025, a day called “Snapshot Day”. The UIL then uses the data to group similar sized schools together while also taking into account geography.
This new alignment has class 4A divided into two divisions, with Division I having an enrollment range of 896-1304 and Division II’s range set at 550-895. Port Isabel Early College High School’s submitted enrollment of 567 places PIECHS back in the same district, 16-4A Division II, a place they have been since the creation of the district back in 2014.
The following schools, La Feria (872 enrollment), RGC La Grulla (875), and Kingsville (816) will also remain in the district.
The district will be adding four more teams, which will give the team and fans a refreshing mix of new district opponents. Departing district 15-4A Div II and joining 16-4A Div II will be Ingleside (613), Robstown (718), and Rockport-Fulton (891). Finally, former 3A school, Corpus Christi London (587), will be the eighth member of the district.
Athletic Coordinator and Head Football Coach, Tony Villarreal views the new look, 8-team district as “a good one”. Especially, considering the schedule is pretty much set and he only needed to find three non-district opponents, which are tentatively Palmview, Rio Hondo and Raymondville.
The last two alignments had PIECHS compete in a 4-team district, where all four teams automatically qualified for the playoffs. The new alignment has shaken things up, as eight teams now vie for the final four playoff positions.
As far as the new basketball and volleyball alignments, district 32-4A will now consist of Port Isabel ECHS, Brownsville Jubilee, Hidalgo ECHS, La Feria, Pharr Valley View, RGC La Grulla, Zapata, and Laredo Harmony School of Excellence.
Although travel wise, the trip to Rockport-Fulton will take a toll on his football team, coach Villarreal’s biggest issue with the UIL was the addition of Zapata and a Laredo school to the new basketball/volleyball districts. Since those games are usually played on a Tuesday, late night arrivals will weigh heavily on the student-athletes. Coach Villarreal stated, “moving the Tuesday games to a Saturday” is one consideration to be negotiated with the other schools.
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