Katy ISD will have it’s own UIL Class 6A district in every sport, now with every Katy ISD school joining the district in the 2022-2024 district realignment.
Paetow and Jordan will jump up to 6A and join District 19-6A, as Katy, Cinco Ranch, Mayde Creek, Morton Ranch, Seven Lakes, Taylor and Tompkins will remain in the district as well.
Seven Lakes is the biggest school in Katy ISD with an enrollment of 3,591 students, followed by Cinco Ranch (3,485), Tompkins (3,261), Katy (3,197), Paetow (3,169), Taylor (3,058), Mayde Creek (2,586), Jordan (2,586 with its enrollment multiplied by 1.33) and Morton Ranch 2,565.
The cutoff for Class 6A was an enrollment of 2,225 students.
It is the third straight realignment where Katy schools have had their own district in Class 6A. Before 2018 Katy schools were aligned with Houston Memorial and Strake Jesuit.
Paetow comes off a state championship in Class 5A, Division I, but will be presented with a new challenge when jumping up to the 6A district.
“The teams we played at the 5A level have prepared us for this,” said Paetow head coach B.J. Gotte. “The good teams at the 5A level can compete at the 6A level. Playing the Manvel’s, the Foster’s the Hightower’s. A&M Consolidated and Huntsville too, the list goes on and on, those are good quality football teams. It was a good way to prepare us and help us steadily grow in the direction we want. We’re just excited to compete against these teams in our district, it gives us a chance to be at our best.”
Jordan will have to make an even bigger jump than Paetow. In the programs second year of varsity play, the Warriors will jump from a team without a district into one of the toughest districts in the Houston area.
“We’ve got a long way to go to get there,” said Jordan head coach Mike Rabe at the end of football season. “We have to have a good offseason, we have to have a good spring. We know what we’re up against coming into this district and it’s going to be really important to have this momentum rolling into it.”
Jordan will play its first ever varsity game in week three, when the team takes on Mayde Creek.
“It’s going to be a lot of hard work and dedication,” Rabe said. “ As long as we get a big-time commitment from the kids, we’ll be alright.”
Paetow will play Conroe and Cy-Ranch before it plays its first district game.
“It’s been a process over the years to continually and incrementally take steps over the years to get better from the time it was just freshman and sophomores to now,” Gotte said. “We’ve taken a systematic approach to prepare us to be able to give us the best chance of having success. Our kids are excited about it and they know they’ve got a big challenge ahead of them, but they’re working hard.”
Another intriguing matchup early in the season will be when Katy takes on Atascocita in week 2.
The Paetow players are excited about the chance to take on other Katy ISD teams.
“We played Morton Ranch the past two years and you could just tell, when we got to that week, it was just a bit different,” Gotte said. “Those are the guys they grew up competing against. Those are the guys they were teammates with. To get to go compete in your own backyard against those teams you know, that gives you a bit of extra excitement. We tried to schedule Katy ISD teams over the past couple years to at least give them a taste so when we got into it, we would be as prepares as we could be.”