San Marcos moved to District 29 for 2024-2026 Realignment Cycle
San Marcos will move over to District 29 in the official 2024-2026 realignment cycle released by the University Interscholastic League on Thursday.
Athletic Director John Walsh was happy where the Rattlers ended up being paired once again with Cibolo Steele, Converse Judson, East Central and Schertz Clemens while adding New Braunfels Canyon and Buda Johnson.
“We had two choices to go north or south,” Walsh said. “We got placed exactly where the Rattlers wanted to be. … Adding the two new teams in the district to avoid being in another six-team district makes it even better.”
This will mark the first time Hays County schools San Marcos and Buda Johnson will be paired in the same district since Johnson opened their doors in 2019 and moved up into Class 6A in 2022.
One of the signification parts of San Marcos moving over from District 27 to District 29 concerns Bi-District playoff pairings.
The move to District 29 will mean San Marcos will be paired with District 30 in the Bi-District round of the playoffs featuring schools from Del Rio, Eagle Pass and Laredo.
Potential Area Round match-ups, as well as potential Regional Quarterfinal match-ups, will see San Marcos play teams from either District 31 or District 32 which are concentrated in the Rio Grande Valley region.
With Rattler football, basketball and volleyball avoiding nearly all the Austin and San Antonio powers in at least the first two rounds of the playoffs, the chances of San Marcos winning multiple playoff games increase potentially.
“I’m never going to talk bad about the region, because there are good teams year in and year out,” Walsh said. “But in my 29 years of experience, you would rather go down in that direction for a couple of rounds than tangle with Vandergrift, Westlake and Lake Travis until round three. Just looking at the history of success, your odds of making it further in the playoffs in each sport [increase] when you look into it.”
With six district games scheduled for the season, the Rattlers football team will have four non-district games, down from five in the last two seasons.
As of now, San Marcos is scheduled to take Hutto on in the season opener in 2024.
The Rattlers will then battle Pflugerville Weiss in Week 2 before a showdown with San Antonio Wagner in Week 3 in the home opener.
The final non-district game of the season will see San Marcos take Lake Travis.
The first meeting between Buda Johnson and San Marcos will take place Week 5 in the district opener for both teams.
San Marcos will close out the 2024 season at home against New Braunfels Canyon.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
