The rumors are true, the school will move down to UIL class 5A. How will this affect the school and the sports teams? Will this affect rivalry games like the M&M bowl against Madison? Which schools will we play in sports? And will this help or hurt the school as the only NEISD high school in 5A classification?
The school enrollment numbers checked in with 2,142, which is 83 students below the 2,225 threshold for the 6A conference. This means games and competitions will be non-district. The school will now compete with 5A schools in the greater San Antonio area
If the school won’t be playing NEISD schools, who will we be playing? That won’t be answered until after this school year when the new districts are set and announced by the UIL in August.
Athletic director and head football coach Kevin Hirst said there are many possible matchups-wise. Schools like Comal ISD’s Smithson Valley and Judson ISD’s Wagner High School also got moved down to 5A which brings the possibility of them being future opponents.
“I think it would be good if it happened because it would let us play other schools that have a similar enrollment and team size compared to how we have been playing schools with twelve hundred more students with us and that makes a big difference,” coach Hirst said. “The downside is that we won’t have much action with our fellow NEISD schools.” Hirst wants to keep the M&M bowl and every tradition alive at MacArthur.
The news has gone over well with some of the student body.
“We have 5A numbers so it makes more sense for us to be in 5A,” junior Benjamin Esquivel said. “But I’m sure the competition will be easier than our 6A opponents. I am excited to be in a class and play some new teams next year.”
