by Blake Seitz
Sports Editor

In Birdville last November, Coppell’s football team suffered the loss that would end its postseason run. Yesterday, Coppell’s future was determined again in Birdville during a Region-wide realignment meeting, which set Coppell’s district for the next two years.

Coppell was placed in District 7-5A for the next two seasons, along with old rival Southlake Carroll, former 4A-school Denton Guyer, Justin Northwest, Saginaw and the three Keller schools (Keller, Keller Central and Fossil Ridge).

It would seem this is a lucky break for Coppell, which will be one of the larger schools in its district. Head coach Joe McBride was modest in his assessment of the realignment.

“There will be no free passes to win a game in this district,” McBride said. “All of these schools have great Texas coaches, so wins will be hard to come by.”

 And while many see Southlake Carroll’s continued presence as a curse, possibly keeping Coppell from a first-place finish in the district, McBride welcomes the continuity.

“I’m glad we’re still got Southlake,” McBride said. “I enjoyed playing them last year, and I look forward to playing them this year. I have great respect for coach [Hal] Wasson and the Dragon tradition.”

The realignment has implications for playoffs as well. If Coppell qualifies (it likely will), it will be paired with schools from District 8-5A, which contains an incredible amount of talent.

“If we get in the playoffs we’d be considered a big school, so we’d face off against the three big teams from 8-5A, which are Allen, Plano East and Plano,” McBride said. “8-5A’s also got Flower Mound and Hebron, which are returning tons of players.”

Despite this potential postseason setback, McBride sees the realignment as a positive sign for things to come.

“We do what we do, and we do it well,” McBride said. “I think the big thing that people will see is that we’re returning [junior running back] Cam McDaniel a lot of offensive linemen, so we’ll be running a lot. If people want to beat Coppell come next season, they’ll have to bring their A game.”