Zack Linscomb didn’t think the odds were going to be in favor of the Teague and Fairfield football teams being placed in a different district from Groesbeck and Mexia.
After all, Teague is 13 miles from Mexia and not too much farther from Groesbeck. Not to mention the Lions face the Goats and Blackcats in the Olympic or non-football sports.
Yet, the UIL pulled a Jeff Bridges and went against all odds by doing just that. Linscomb, Teague’s head football coach, will guide his Lions through District 9-3A-Division I against Freestone County rival Fairfield, Crockett, Diboll, Huntington and Westwood.
“We knew there was a chance that might happen and we formulated a plan for the case that it would happen,” Linscomb said. “I thought the four of us would stay together and go either west or north.”
Groesbeck and Mexia? Well, they’re in District 5-3A-DI with Grandview, Maypearl, West and Whitney.
With this change, not only are the Freestone and Limestone County schools in different districts, but they’re also in different regions. District 5 is in Region II and District 9 is in Region III.
Linscomb confessed that he did not expect to be placed into Region III for football. However, he looks forward to his team’s new surroundings.
“I’m really excited about getting some new faces and forming some new rivalries. I’m excited about getting to learn new opponents,” Linscomb said. “I think it’s going to be a competitive district and it’s a new region so we have a lot of studying to do between now and then. I think we’ll match up well. We could be playing in the Golden Triangle or in the Hallettsville area. We’ve played Westwood on the junior high level, but not on the high school level. There’s some familiarity because we’ve seen Westwood in other sports. It’ll be good for our kids because now we have to go and play the game. It’ll be new for us across the board.”
Out of the seven-team District 7-3A-DI alignment that the “Bi-Stone Four” participated in during the last two seasons, only defending 3ADI state champion Malakoff and Eustace remain. Kemp moved up to Class 4A, and Malakoff and Eustace will welcome North Texas schools Commerce, Mineola, Mount Vernon, Rains and Winnsboro.
As far as Teague’s non-district schedule is concerned, there are some familiar faces and some new ones. Linscomb looks forward to facing those teams as well.
“We’ll play New Waverly, Tolar, Ferris, Mexia and Bullard,” he said. “We have two 4As (Bullard and Ferris) and we need to see some of those teams who have more kids than we do.”
In the Olympic sports, Teague is staying in District 20-3A with every school from the current cycle sans Franklin. This means that the Lions will continue to face Buffalo, Elkhart, Fairfield, Groesbeck, Mexia and Westwood in those sports.
Franklin is now a member of 19-3A alongside Cameron Yoe, Lexington, Little River Academy, Rockdale, Rogers and Thrall. Lorena moved up to 4A, and McGregor and Troy are now members of 17-3A.
“Not a lot of change except for Franklin,” Linscomb said. “One of the hurdles will be kids doing multiple things. If we end up with a situation where we have a volleyball play playing in Groesbeck then having to go to Diboll or Huntington to cheer in the football game.”
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