Lampasas moves to 3A

Lampasas High School Athletic Director Joey McQueen believes everything is going to be A-OK for the Badgers after the state-wide district realignments.

Actually, things are going to be 3A-OK in Lampasas for at least the next two years.

Lampasas dropped into Class 3A Monday morning when the University Interscholastic League released its reclassification information for the 2010-2012 football and basketball districts.

While the move from Class 4A does not automatically improve Lampasas’ programs, it does something that is perhaps more important: It levels the playing field.

“We’re going to be the same kids working the same way, but we’re going to be competing against people that have the same issues we have,” McQueen said. “I don’t know if this will be short-lived, but we’re going to enjoy these two years.”

After enduring years of frustration stemming from being the smallest school in their district, the Badgers are in the unfamiliar position of having the largest enrollment in their new pairing. Lampasas will compete in District 25-3A with Llano, Burnet, Liberty Hill, Taylor and Salado.

But the Badgers didn’t get there by much.

Back in October, Lampasas turned in a 2010 enrollment of 987 students. When the cutoff numbers were revealed this week, the Badgers were just two students below the Class 3A limit of 989.

Had Lampasas remained in Class 4A, McQueen feels certain the Badgers would have jumped to District 8, now comprised of San Angelo Lake View, Stephenville, Waco, Waco Midway, Waco University and Killeen.

“I would have wanted to become a salesperson if that happened,” said McQueen, who also serves as the Badgers’ head football coach.

Instead, Lampasas players and fans ended up with a reasonable travel schedule for district competition.

All five schools are within 75 miles of Lampasas, with the farthest commute being to Taylor.

The Badgers also will have a couple of neighborhood rivalries to enjoy with Liberty Hill and Burnet, which both are approximately half an hour away.

“That is going to be neat,” the coach said.

Although the new alignments are only for football and basketball, the changes are expected to affect all Lampasas athletic programs the same, except for soccer because it is played only in Class 4A and Class 5A alignments.

The move should benefit all Lampasas sports, but McQueen feels the change will be felt most during the spring sports.

“It will help basketball, tennis and golf because we won’t be going up against Lake Travis who is being coached by pros,” McQueen said. “Track will be helped tremendously because we’re not running against Hutto and Killeen and Hendrickson who have 41.8 sprint relay [teams]. We’re busting our butts to get a 43.5, and we’re getting last place.

“It will affect us more in those spring sports because we run into a good football district.”

Other than Salado, which is making the leap up from Class 2A, the new District 25-3A football teams matched the Badgers’ fourwin season total.

Burnet posted the best record of the bunch last year by going 8-3 after losing in the regional round of the playoffs.

While the Badgers no longer have to worry about competing against the three-time defending Class 4A state champion Cavaliers, there is still a prestigious pedigree residing in their district. In 2006 and 2007, Liberty Hill won consecutive Class 3A state championships.

Coincidentally, Panthers head football coach Jerry Vance was instrumental in helping McQueen successfully install the slot-T offense Lampasas used to reach the playoffs last season.

“He opened his program up to us and showed us different things about how the slot-T was run,” McQueen said. “He kept saying, ‘Hey, if I let you do this, you’ve got to play us next year.’

“I’m going to walk into our next district meeting and say, ‘You got your wish.’ ”