By Rey Sifuentes Jr.    

     The 2013-2014 school year could be C.C. Winn High School’s last as a 5A campus.

     Mavericks head football coach Eric Z. Villasenor made a presentation before the brass of Eagle Pass Independent School District - during a meeting held on Tuesday night - in which he proposed allowing C.C. Winn to be reclassified as a 4A in about eight months from now.

     “I received a very positive vibe from the school board, our superintendent, our assistant superintendent, our athletic director and our principal,” Villasenor said about his presentation.

     Villasenor pointed at his campus’ total number of students as the main reason for his proposal.

     “Our enrollment has been decreasing throughout the years,” Villasenor said. “The other schools we have been playing, meanwhile, have seen their enrollments increase. So we are now facing schools that have double the number of students that we do. Schools like Laredo United and Alexander have about 3,800 to 4,100 students.”

     CCWN’s boys and girls athletic teams have been competing lately against opponents whose enrollments are twice as large.

     “These are schools with enough numbers to field multiple freshmen teams, a possible sophomore team, or even two junior varsity teams,” Villasenor said. “All of those kids are being groomed to perform at the varsity level and their coaches have plenty of kids to choose from. I just feel that it is a daunting task for us when our enrollment is at 1,886.”

     Villasenor said that C.C. Winn has the numbers to qualify it as a 4A when the University Interscholastic League does its biannual statewide athletic district realignment on February 1, 2014.

     “According to the enrollment we have now, we are eligible to move to 4A,” Villasenor said. “We anticipate a possible peak enrollment of about 1,960 next year, which would still qualify us for the 4A classification.”

     Before redrawing every athletic zone in Texas, U.I.L. will first send out paperwork to every campus. That is when C.C. Winn can request a move to 4A.

     Schools have the opportunity to option up one classification – a campus with 4A numbers can request to be in 5A instead – but Villasenor said his campus will not.

     “What is going to happen when we get our documents from U.I.L., before the next realignment, is that we are not going to option up (request) to be in 5A,” Villasenor said. “So we will then see if and where U.I.L. places us in 4A, what district we will land in. That is where the guessing game comes in, scenarios are drawn up based on geographic location, proximity and enrollment. U.I.L. usually tries to place you with other schools whose enrollments are about the same as yours.”

     In addition, Villasenor said there are plenty of 4A’s close by.

     “The 4A schools nearby that have enrollments similar to ours include Uvalde, Medina Valley, Laredo Martin, Laredo Cigarroa, Laredo Nixon, San Antonio Southside, and possibly Floresville,” Villasenor said. “All of those schools carry a 4A enrollment, so I could see us being extremely competitive against them. I am looking forward to our potential new classification. It is always nice to face new competition.”

     Until then, the Mavericks still have one more athletic campaign in 5A.

     CCWN’s football team is currently in its first offseason with Villasenor (previously an offensive coordinator for Eagle Pass High School ) as the head coach.

     Entering his first ever year as a head coach, Villasenor said he and his team are only focusing on game one of their 2013 schedule, and not looking ahead.

     “Our goal right now is just to win the first game,” Villasenor said. “You would like an opening season victory to generate something positive, which can become contagious. But right now we are just concentrating on starting out 1-0 and the Uvalde Coyotes (on August 30).”  

     (Rey Sifuentes Jr. is the sports editor of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune which is located in East Texas. He is also a 1992 graduate of Eagle Pass High School. Sifuentes can be reached on Facebook and at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . You can also follow him through Twitter at @eaglesmavericks.)