UIL realignment announced, Diboll down shifts
By Russell Payne Sports Editor

A week ago Friday was the big day that Texas High School's wait for every two year's when the University Interscholastic League announces the realignment of Football and Basketball Districts in all classifications across Texas.

Locally the Diboll Lumberjacks and Lady Jacks have competed the past two years in District 20 3-A.

This coming season will only see a couple of minor changes as Diboll will move to the new District 18 3-A and with only one member school changing.

Out of the district will be Crockett, going to the new 20 3-A, and in their stead will be those Bulldogs from Jasper. The rest of the 18 3-Alineup will consist of Huntington, Carthage, Center and Rusk for the purposes of Football.

The district will also include Hudson and Central for basketball.

Head Coach Gary Martel is excited about the new district, and the familiarity of things should go a long way in the Jacks planning. "We know we are losing some good kids, but we have some young athletes that need to step up and fill in roles," Martel said.

The schedule for the upcoming football season should be one of the toughest in the state.

Kicking off the year with a pair of scrimmages the Jacks will face of with Hardin-Jefferson at home August 16, and a road scrimmage the following week at Tatum.

Martel also believes that the Lumberjacks have a tough schedule in the pre-season. "This is the schedule that I want for our team," Martel insists.

The pre-season will kick-off with two straight weeks of road games.

Kirbyville will be destination number one for the Lumberjacks, while the Jacks will be pitted against the vaunted Silsbee Tigers on the road Sept. 4.

Week three will feature a contest between Newton and the Jacks, Sep. 11in the Diboll home opener for 2008.

The following week the Jacks will hit the road again for Coldspring, Sep. 18.

The final contest of the pre-season, Oct. 3, will showcase the Jacks at home against 4-A Nacogdoches. The Dragons will be a formidable opponent to test Diboll in the upcoming season.

If that pre-season stretch is not tough enough for the Jacks, they kick off the 18 3-A stretch of the season with the newest district competitor, Jasper on Oct. 10.

The remainder f the season will see Center coming into Diboll the following week, Oct. 17. The following weekend the Jacks hit the road for a visit to Huntington, Oct. 23.

The final two weeks of the season will have Carthage coming in for the home finale and spook-tacular contest, Oct. 31 The Jacks will then hit the road for Rusk in a season finale, Nov. 7.

This should be a tough season on the horizon, with the Jacks a sure competitor for that 18 3-A title.