The tentative TAPPS 2008-10 realignment has four area schools moving up a division in football and schools competing under five classifications instead of six in the other sports.
However, the key word is tentative.
Schools have until Tuesday to appeal their placement, which was determined by the TAPPS executive board in a Sept. 9 meeting.
TAPPS director Edd Burleson said he has already received three appeals but expects more closer to the deadline. The executive board will finalize the realignment in a special meeting Oct. 7 and then post the results by Oct. 19.
"It's just incomplete at this time," Burleson said. "It's not that we don't take the appeals to move up, it's just a fruitless effort. It's never fun because you're going to make at least 50 percent of the people unhappy."
Nolan Catholic will stay in the highest TAPPS classification, which will be Class 5A, instead of 6A, for all sports other than football.
Grace Prep, currently in TAPPS 5A and Division II in football, already has appealled to move down to TAPPS 4A and Division III in football. The school's enrollment has dropped from 300 to 165 in two years. This football season is Grace Prep's sixth consecutive in Division II.
Football coach David Reese said the decision to appeal was made strictly because of numbers, not because of the school's ability to be competitive. He said after applying the TAPPS enrollment formula, Grace Prep is less than a student above the minimum requirement to stay in Division II.
"It's not like we're growing. We're shrinking," Reese said. "We want to be on the same playing field. If it happens, we don't want to be down there for more than two years. We want to be back to where we were."
Fort Worth Temple Christian is 0-4 in Division III District 1 in football but is expected to move up to the competitive Division II, a division that will include Southwest Christian, Fort Worth Christian, Midland Christian and Argyle Liberty. Temple Christian will stay in Class 4A in volleyball and basketball.
"We really don't have anything to appeal," Temple Christian athletic director Barry Stubbs said. "We're over the numbers. It's hard to deal with, to be honest, but it's just something we have to deal with. On the football end of it, you can get beat up physically and on the scoreboard. We're in a cycle where we just don't have the players for football."
Grapevine Faith's football team, now in Division III, will join Temple Christian in Division II but stay in TAPPS 4A District 1.
"We're looking forward to competing at that level for the first time," Grapevine Faith athletic director Kris Hogan said. "We're going to play the hand we're dealt."
Colleyville Covenant and Calvary Christian are set to move from Division IV to Division III in football. Covenant will stay in Class 3A in basketball and volleyball but will move from District 2 to District 3. Calvary will stay in Class 3A District 2. Watauga Harvest, an independent in football this season, will return to Division IV. The Saints will compete in Class 2A in other sports.
Burleson said the TAPPS board decided to downsize to five classifications to have larger districts and eliminate travel for some schools. He also said TAPPS has had between 135 to 145 schools in the last eight to 10 years.
"There was a lot of discussion, but we eventually agreed," Burleson said. "Much of TAPPS is driven by the schools that are 90 students and under. We have a small number of very large schools and a large number of very small schools. To fit the schools in so there isn't that much of a disparity with the smallest school in the classification and the largest school in the classification is always a problem."
A numbers game
TAPPS uses different enrollment figures to determine a school's classification for football than it does for the other sports. For football and soccer, schools are classified in divisions, and are placed in classes for other sports. For example, a school qualifies for TAPPS 5A, now the highest classification after realignment, with an average general enrollment of 425 and above. For that school to be in the highest classification in football -- Division I -- it needs to have an average enrollment of 200 boys or more.
