HOUSTON — The University Interscholastic League on Thursday assigned Port Arthur Memorial to a district with a couple of familiar schools from playoffs past.

PA Memorial will compete in District 9-5A Division I for the 2018 and 2019 seasons with Goose Creek Memorial, Galena Park, Houston Austin, Houston Wisdom, Kingwood Park, New Caney and Porter. PA Memorial beat Kingwood Park and Porter in the past two bi-district rounds of the 5A Division I playoffs.

“We’re real familiar with those teams,” Memorial coach and athletic co-coordinator Kenny Harrison said. “With the exception of the travel, I like the schedule.”

Houston-area and Southeast Texas coaches, athletic directors and school officials met at the Region 4 Education Service Center on Thursday morning to find out their new districts and try to find non-district opponents for the football season, which begins the weekend of Aug. 31.

Harrison’s schedule was not finalized as of Thursday morning, but Memorial will open the season against Deer Park, Houston Madison and the new Beaumont high school that is the result of the upcoming Central-Ozen merger. Memorial will be the only 5A Division I team in Jefferson County starting in July, meaning more travel for the Titans than in the previous two seasons.

“It’s like my first five years in Port Arthur, when we traveled to North Shore and all those places,” Harrison said. “We’ll be traveling and hitting the road again. It is what it is. We’ve just got to get ourselves ready to go and put a productive product on the field.”

Wisdom, named after former teacher Margaret Long Wisdom, is the former Houston Lee High School.

The 2018 football season will mark the first for 5A schools to compete in a regular-season division format, meaning the larger 5A schools are considered Division I and smaller 5A schools are Division II. This will open the door for higher-seeded teams to play lower-seeded teams at least in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

“Anytime you get to play in front of your home crowd, and if we’re fortunate to be in that position, it’ll be the first time we played a playoff game in Port Arthur,” Harrison said. “That’ll be huge for our program and our community.”

Nederland and Port Neches-Groves will meet on Week 11 for two more years in football. The archrivals, along with Vidor and Baytown Lee, will stick together in District 12-5A Division II.

“We just draw it out of the box,” PNG coach and athletic director Brandon Faircloth said. Nederland defeated host PNG 36-35 last November in the Bum Phillips Bowl.

Joining that quartet will be Crosby, Dayton, Barbers Hill and Santa Fe. Crosby, Dayton and Barbers Hill, coming from District 21-5A, regularly faced 22-5A teams in postseason competition across all sports.

“We’re definitely going to visit some new places that we haven’t been able to visit since I’ve been here,” Faircloth said. “… It’s unique, and I’m excited.”

Nederland coach and AD Monte Barrow said this year’s realignment presented more uncertainties than in recent years with the division split and the Central-Ozen merger. The Beaumont ISD approved the merger just last month as a result of extensive damage to Central’s campus caused by Tropical Storm Harvey in August.

“We were happy. It’s not too much travel,” Barrow said. “Santa Fe being thrown in there was a bit of a curveball, but overall, we’re pleased. We’re just glad to have a schedule.”

Nederland will face West Orange-Stark, the new Beaumont school and Silsbee in the first three weeks, with locations to be determined. The Bulldogs will get a bye week before starting district play at home against Santa Fe, then visit Barbers Hill, host Dayton and Baytown Lee, visit Vidor, host Crosby and visit PNG.

Memorial, Nederland, PNG and Vidor are moving to District 21-5A for basketball and other sports. Cleveland, Dayton and Barbers Hill will join the teams.

“I feel real great about that,” Harrison said. “That’s real good for our community and our basketball program. That will take some of the expenses away. Basketball and other teams will not have to travel as much as the football team.”

Sabine Pass is seeing some new additions to District 12-2A Division II in football. Grapeland and Lovelady will join the district, which includes Burkeville, Colmesneil, Evadale and West Hardin.

District 24-2A will differ between basketball and volleyball. Deweyville, Evadale, Hull-Daisetta, Sabine Pass and West Hardin make up the basketball league, with Burkeville, High Island and Spurger joining them for volleyball.

Other district alignments involving Jefferson and Orange county teams:

• District 21-6A (all sports): Baytown Sterling, new Beaumont high school, West Brook, Channelview, Deer Park, North Shore, La Porte, Sheldon C.E. King
• District 11-4A Division I football: Bridge City, Huffman Hargrave, Livingston, Lumberton, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Splendora
• District 11-4A Division II football: Hamshire-Fannett, Hardin-Jefferson, Liberty, Silsbee, West Orange-Stark
• District 22-4A (other sports): Bridge City, Hamshire-Fannett, Hardin-Jefferson, Lumberton, Little Cypress-Mauriceville; Silsbee, West Orange-Stark
• District 12-3A Division I football: Anahuac, Buna, East Chambers, Hardin, Kirbyville, Orangefield, Warren, Woodville
• District 22-3A (other sports): Anahuac, Buna, East Chambers, Hardin, Kirbyville, Kountze, Orangefield, Warren

Port Arthur’s Bob Hope School, which competed in 3A the past two years, has declared for the Texas Christian Athletic League in all sports.

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews