Welcome to The Baseline, the Palestine Herald-Press sports blog. Here, you'll find breaking news updates, live game updates, thoughts and musings on sports, both local and national, and more.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A whole new meaning

At this time last week, tonight's Palestine/Westwood basketball games were nothing more than season finales for the girls and late-season games for the boys.

Sure, I thought, there might be some playoff implications (there's one, the Westwood boys can't lose this one, and they shouldn't) but nothing more than that.

Boy was I wrong.


Because of the way the realignment fell on Thursday, this could be the last time these teams see each other on the court for at least two years. It's definitely the last time they'll see each other in district play.

This is only the first time this will happen this year. When the softball and baseball teams face off for the final time in the spring, the same will ring true: This could be it for at least a while.

I've yet to really give my thoughts on the realignment, and for six of the nine schools I cover, there really aren't many. Those schools won't really see many changes.

But then there are the other three:

For Palestine, the main move is into a five-team district, which is kind of weird because you get six non-district games instead of five. Other than that, though, it'll just take some getting used to for Wildcat fans not to see rival Westwood on the schedule. On the plus side, the Jacksonville rivalry is back, and I feel like Palestine/Fairfield could also be heating up.

For Neches, the move obviously isn't a football one. But, the Tigers move up to Class 1A, Division I is a significant one, because it puts them not only in the same classification, but the same region as girls' basketball powerhouse Martins Mill. Now, with five seniors graduating, many may not have expected too much from the Lady Tigers in 2012-2013 anyway, but at the D-II level they could've easily competed deep into the postseason. In D-I, that gets much tougher, and a battle with Martins Mill looms in the regional quarterfinals.

Finally, there's Westwood. The Panthers got what they wanted, which was a move down to Class 2A. They've been a 3A school with 2A numbers for the past two years anyway, really, so it's nice to see them make the move down. That being said, it isn't going to get much easier, if any at all. They've been put into a tough football district with Crockett, Teague, Franklin, Elkhart and Trinity. While Trinity may not be much of a factor, those first three teams will be, and the Elks definitely could be. On the basketball side, they've now got to contend with basketball-only schools like Central Heights and Woden, not to mention Crockett, a perennial power.

How it all plays out is anyone's guess, and we won't really know for at least six months or so. But, tonight will be special in a somewhat sad kind of way, as we start saying goodbye to Palestine/Westwood district clashes, one at a time.

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