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District of Doom 2.0: The UIL’s 2020-2022 realignment just created one of the toughest districts in Dallas-area history

Football, basketball and track will be incredibly competitive in this district the next two years.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated since it was first published.

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS — Mansfield Lake Ridge football coach Kirk Thor needed just a few words to sum up what a lot of coaches were thinking when they saw the new District 11-6A that was announced as part of the UIL’s realignment Monday morning.

“District of Doom 2.0,” Thor said.

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Lake Ridge’s district has been tough enough the last two years, with perennial powers DeSoto and Cedar Hill at the top of 7-6A. Now, the new eight-team 11-6A is one of the toughest districts in Dallas-area history.

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After two years apart, Duncanville is rejoining a district that includes DeSoto and Cedar Hill. Those Class 6A schools, all within 10 miles or less of each other, are three of the most dominant multi-sport powerhouses in Texas.

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The UIL including Waco Midway, Waco, Lake Ridge, Mansfield and Waxahachie didn’t do anyone any favors.

“It’s going to be like a playoff game every week,” Thor said. “It’s going to be tough all around, for every sport.”

In football, Duncanville, DeSoto, Lake Ridge, Cedar Hill and Midway have combined for nine appearances in state championship games in the last nine years, with Cedar Hill winning back-to-back state titles in 2013 and 2014 and DeSoto winning state in 2016. This year, Duncanville, DeSoto, Cedar Hill and Midway were a combined 42-11, with 15-1 Duncanville finishing as the 6A Division I state runner-up for the second straight season.

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“I think it’s great for the state of Texas, I think it’s great for our community, I think it’s great for the D-FW area,” DeSoto coach Claude Mathis said. “Everybody understands that Duncanville and DeSoto used to be a rivalry. It’s just getting back to old times.”

Related reading: 2020-22 UIL districts, classifications released; see the full statewide alignments

What Mathis doesn’t think is great is the amount of travel that will be required for DeSoto, not only in 11-6A, but also with his school moved from Region I to Region II.

Just the trip to Waco will be more than 80 miles one way for district games. First-round playoff games for 11-6A will be against 12-6A, which consists of Belton, Bryan, Copperas Cove, Temple and four Killeen schools.

“I don’t understand it,” Mathis said. “Great schools, but it’s going to put a lot of strain on our travel and on our kids going to school.”

Four of the eight districts in Region II are comprised of schools from the Houston area. That includes 2011 state champion Spring Dekaney, 2016 state runner-up The Woodlands, 2019 state semifinalist Spring Westfield and 2019 regional semifinalists Klein Oak and Klein Collins.

“You make it through that [11-6A] gauntlet, and then you have to go play basically Houston’s best,” Cedar Hill coach Carlos Lynn said. “It’s going to be tough, but if you’re going to be a contender, you’re going to have to beat good teams like that anyway.”

For girls basketball, the newly created district has three teams — No. 1 Duncanville, No. 2 DeSoto and No. 7 Cedar Hill — ranked in the top 10 in the state. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Duncanville, DeSoto, Waxahachie and Mansfield have combined for 10 state championships and five state runner-up finishes in the last 21 years.

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The District of Doom will be just as brutal for boys basketball.

Three teams — No. 1 Duncanville, No. 16 DeSoto and No. 17 Waxahachie — are top-20 teams in the state. Duncanville is the defending 6A state champion, and it has combined with DeSoto and Cedar Hill for five state championships and three state runner-up finishes in the last 17 years.

The district’s best sport may not be any of those listed above. It may be track and field.

In the last nine years, DeSoto, Duncanville, Lake Ridge, Cedar Hill, Mansfield and Waxahachie have combined for 21 top-three team finishes at the UIL state meet for boys and girls track. In that span, DeSoto has won 10 team state championships (seven girls, three boys), and Lake Ridge won a girls team state title (in 2018).

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Don’t expect the district to have any drop-off in football, even though it’s losing 14 of the area’s top 100 recruits in the Class of 2020 to graduation. Next season, the district will feature eight of the top 100 recruits in the state in the Class of 2021, paced by Duncanville’s duo of offensive lineman/defensive lineman Savion Byrd (ranked No. 3 in the state) and linebacker Kendrick Blackshire (No. 20.).

“You can either complain about it, or you can get to work,” Thor said.

More realignment

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