A change in the game
For the past two years, Highland Park played in Texas’ largest classification for
football and other sports because of a student body of 2,106, which is 6 students more
than the UIL 5A cutoff of 2,100. HP was one of the smallest, if not THE smallest school
in the 6A classification. Now it becomes likely that HP will face much smaller schools
from the Dallas area in district play, much different than schools like Plano and Allen
have more than 5,000 students that HP played in 6A.
“HP is moving back to 5a because we were the smallest team in our district and
the committee thought that we should move down to 5A because it would be more fair
for our team to move down a division,” freshman football player Will Rose said. “We will
still have really big competition in 5A and it will still be hard but it won’t be as big of a
challenge as competing in 6A. Moving back to 5A affects football because we will play
different teams with different strengths and weaknesses than we have recently.”
Students saw the benefits of moving back down from 6A to 5A. Athletes that play
sports like football are more affected by the change, where soccer players and swimmers
aren’t affected.
“It is a big deal because it gives us a better opportunity to win more games, and
have more success,” freshman football player Reilly Seebold said. “In 5A, it should be
easier to go further in the playoffs because we will play smaller schools,”
Athletes realized they would still have to play well to succeed in the smaller
bracket.
“The competition will be similar in 5A to what it was in 6A but it shouldn’t
matter,” freshman football and basketball player Whit Winfield said. “Being HP we
should be able to compete and win against any competition in the state because we work
and train hard.”
Overall, most students agree that Highland Park moving back down to 5A is a
change for the better. Playing in 5A will allow us to compete at a comfortable level, but
still be challenged.