On February 1st, the long awaited announcement by the U.I.L. of newly aligned districts was finally unveiled putting all speculation about "which team would end up where" to rest.

One such rumor was confirmed when it was announced that the Moody Bearcats would drop to the 1A classification. Before the official announcement, this was a highly hypothesized topic as Moody's student population has tremendously dropped in the past few years.

Though many fans agreed that Moody would likely drop to 1A, the question left on many a mind was the locale of the district the U.I.L. would place Moody. Of course there was the idea of Moody going to the Temple area where Bartlett, Thrall, Holland, Granger could have been waiting.

There was the possibility of both Moody and Crawford dropping to 1A to head West to battle the likes of Valley Mills, Meridian, Goldthwaite, and De Leon. But in the end, this was not the plan the U.I.L. had for the Bearcats or the Pirates.

When the announcement came on that Crawford was staying put in 2A, it was a bit of a shock for many fans of the Super Centex region. It was an even bigger surprise when fans learned that Crawford was put in a district where no Central Texas team would have wanted to go; far out West with Hico, Hamilton, Cisco, Millsap, Tolar, and Rio Vista.

Then the question was answered for the Bearcat fans and Moody had indeed dropped to 1A. And again the locale was astounding as fans learned that Moody would have to travel far East in district 12-1A to take on Iola, Normangee, Somerville, and Thrall. The traveling distance is a long haul to say the least.

Iola (football: 1-8 in 2009) and Normagee (football: 5-5 in 2009) are coming from a district in which they were at the bottom of the pyramid. Thrall (4-5) comes in off a successful football season that included a 3rd round playoff appearance. Somerville (4-4) looks like the team to beat in this district as they displayed by beating both Iola and Thrall handily last year.

The Bearcats themselves are much improved thanks to their strong district in the past 2 seasons, which included the likes of the McGregor Bulldogs, Troy Trojans, and Crawford Pirates. Even though Moody went 2-8 this past season, head coach and Athletic Director Coach Gillespie and his staff are excited about 2010 football season. Moody has surely taken their licks in 2A, and is looking forward to a new era of Bearcat football in 1A. With talent returning at the quarterback position in Nate Wilburn, at running back in Tony Recio, and many upperclassmen from the offensive line, the Bearcats look to be set up for a playoff contention spot.

Moving down to 1A has undoubtedly energized the mood within the Moody program.

"Moving down to play schools more similar in size would be exciting to kids in any program, including ours." Coach Gillespie told the SuperCentex.com broadcasting team during an interview on "The Zone Realignment Special."

That exhilaration is already evident as progress is alreay being seen in the Bearcats' off season. Many of the players have loyally given their free time to hit the weight room and the track after school.The task this off season for the Moody players will be to hit the weight room, condition hard, and to bring in the confidence of what it takes to be at the top of the district. 

In 2010, Coach Gillespie plans to battle test his team even before district begins as he has put together a non-district schedule that includes Holland, Granger, Dawson, Bosqueville, and long time rival Bruceville-Eddy. Other teams in the district will definitely bring their best when slated against the Bearcats, since they are in the unfamiliar position of being one of the biggest teams (enrollment-wise) in their district. Therefore, Coach Gillespie and his staff will have to work to keep his team humble, so that overconfidence does not become an issue on the field.

Besides being one of the newest teams in Central Texas to join the 1A ranks, another thing is certain for the Bearcats in 2010: the Moody community is excited about their football team's chances and will undoubtedly follow the Bearcats through the long travels.