Lake Travis Cavaliers head coach Hank Carter speaks to his team late in the fourth quarter of the annual Battle of the Lakes rivalry against the Westlake Chaparrals at Chaparral Stadium in West Lake Hills, Oct. 24, 2025. The Cavaliers won the game 31-10.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
The Texas high school football equivalent to the opening bell on Wall Street takes place Monday.
When the University Interscholastic League releases its biennial district realignment at 9 a.m. for the 2026-28 cycle, it will set off a statewide frenzy of teams trying to put together a schedule for the next two years. And though school officials can anticipate or guess what will happen with district assignments, each of the six coaches the American-Statesman talked to for this article said the same thing: nobody knows.
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What we’re expecting for Central Texas schools when the UIL announces its biennial realignment and reclassification changes for the next two years on Monday, based on schools’ enrollment numbers and expected classification cutoffs:
Who’s jumping up to Class 6A: Cedar Park, East View, Hays, Leander and Rouse
Who’s dropping down to Class 5A: Manor
Who’s moving in football only: Connally and McCallum to Class 5A Division I
“I have no clue where they’re going to place us,” Hays coach Mark Torres said with a chuckle.
RELATED: Relive the Central Texas chaos that was the UIL’s 2024 biennial realignment
That doesn’t mean that there’s no preparation, though. Coaches try to line up opponents for the first four weeks for each potential district-size scenario, which for most Central Texas schools can range from six to nine teams.
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“You always have to go in with a plan,” former Rouse coach Josh Mann, who took the Belton job Friday, told the Statesman earlier in the week. “You look at (media projections) and do your own homework to try and get an idea what the districts will be. But the biggest thing is you want to go in with at least two or three nondistrict games in hand. … And when it’s announced, you have to be prepared for the chaos that happens.”
A potential ‘district of doom?’
This realignment will be particularly interesting for the Austin area:
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• Cedar Park, East View, Hays, Leander and Rouse are all jumping to Class 6A in a move that gives Central Texas 21 schools in the state’s largest classification.
• Manor is the lone area school dropping classes, going from 6A to 5A.
• And McCallum and Connally will jump in football from Division II to Division I in 5A.
The UIL keeps programs in the same school district together, so the five Leander ISD 6A schools (Cedar Park, Leander, Rouse, Vandegrift and Vista Ridge) will all be in the same athletic district, as will the three Austin school district 6A schools (Austin High, Bowie and Akins), the four Round Rock ISD 6A schools (Cedar Ridge, Round Rock, Stony Point and Westwood) and so on throughout the classifications.
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After that, anything is possible, including having Dripping Springs, Lake Travis and Westlake joining the Leander ISD schools in a 6A district. That would arguably put the area’s top four football programs — Vandegrift being the other — in the same district.
“That would be the district of doom,” Torres said.
Cedar Park Timberwolves running back Lucas Viloria (24) and teammates celebrate their 48-35 win against the Rouse Raiders at the District 8-5A-2 football game on Friday, Oct 3, 2025, at John Gupton Stadium in Cedar Park, TX
John Gutierrez/Special to American-Statesman
For football programs like Glenn (Class 5A Division I) and Pflugerville (Class 5A Division II) who are the only ones from their school districts in a different classification or division — Pflugerville ISD schools Connally, Hendrickson and Weiss are Division I — Monday could be particularly difficult.
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“It’s always a little bit easier if you’re in a (UIL) district with other schools from your (school) district because then you can line things up a little better,” Pflugerville coach Charles Taylor said. “But it is what it is. And for us, I’m just happy to stay in Division II. … I’d rather it be that way than jumping up and being the smallest school in the district.”
Coach: UIL realignment can be good or bad
Torres noted there are some benefits in moving up to 6A. Hays should be able to count on weekly opponents for its four sub-varsity teams while it streamlines district processes.
“I’d never been in a Division I conference in 5A before,” said Torres, who spent nine years leading Class 6A El Paso Pebble Hills before taking over the Hawks program in 2024. “You’re dealing with a football district and a district for all the other sports. So you have two different (district executive committees) and two different schedules, and not much is aligned when you’re in that situation.”
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Westlake vs Lake Travis: Would they play anyway?
It’s also possible traditional rivalries are broken away from district play. Lake Travis and Westlake have been in the same district since the Cavs jumped to the largest class in 2012. But Lake Travis’ Hank Carter said he thinks the two would play each other even if they aren’t in the same district, just as they did from 2006-11.
“We would love to do that,” said Carter, who also noted his team needs to play on the road the first four weeks due to stadium construction. “I haven’t given that a ton of consideration because we’ve always been with them, but when you have those historical rivalries … and two communities that are so close to each other and competitive, you (want to continue) that.”
All the speculation will come to an end early Monday. As with every cycle, some schools will benefit more than others from district realignment, but Carter said getting too wrapped up in theoretical scenarios doesn’t serve much purpose.
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After all, no one knows.
“We have no control how the district is set up, so there’s not much to be gained from worrying about it,” he said. “It’s exciting because it’s an opportunity there might be a shakeup. But at the end of the day we’re never going to look at it as a negative. … We’re going to be fired up to go compete in whatever district we’re in.”