DeSoto, which has won three Texas 6A state football titles in the past four seasons, is moving to 5A for the next two years under biennial reclassification and realignment released Monday by the University Interscholastic League.
Although there is still a lot to unpack from the Monday's announcement, DeSoto's drop to Conference 5A Division 2 is perhaps the biggest news to come out of the realignment.
The Eagles won the 6A Division 2 championship in December after winning titles in 2022 and 2023. The school opted not to appeal to request back into 6A, as it did two years ago, citing better opportunities for other sports programs, according to a story in
the Dallas Morning News. With an enrollment of 1,923, DeSoto is only 103 students from dropping all the way to a 5A Division 2 enrollment.
Where is my school school?
DeSoto celebrates after beating King 55-27 in the Conference 6A Division 2 state championship game. After starting 0-2, the Eagles won 13 of their next 14 games to win the title. (PHOTO: Alex Garza)
•
Celina, which won its 10th state title in 2025, moves up to Conference 5A Division 2 after grabbing the 4A Division 1 crown. The Bobcats trail only
Aledo (12) for most state football titles in history.
• Aledo bumped up to 6A and was placed in Region 1, District 3 with five Arlington schools and
Granbury and
Weatherford, short of a possible move to place them in a district with western schools in Midland and Odessa.
•
Wakeland (Frisco) becomes the first Frisco ISD school to rise to 6A, a move the created some parental and even political backlash prior to Monday's announcement. Wakeland's enrollment is 2,245, 30 students over the 6A cutoff. The school is in Region 1, District 5 along with
Guyer (Denton) and
Hebron (Carrollton).
The new alignments, established by enrollment figures submitted to the
UIL by its member schools in October, will serve as the football
districts for the next two school years.
Realignment enrollment numbers
(football, volleyball, basketball)
6A — 2,215 and above
5A — 1,305 – 2,214
4A — 550 – 1,304
3A — 246 – 549
2A — 105 – 245
1A — 104.9 and below
1A – 5A Division I and Division II numbers5A Division 1 — 1870 – 2214
5A Division 2 — 1305 – 1869
4A Division I — 896 – 1304
4A Division II — 550 – 895
3A Division I — 367 – 549
3A Division II — 246 – 366.9
2A Division I — 175.6 – 245.9
2A Division II — 105 – 175.5
1A Division I — 57.6 – 104.9
1A Division II — 57.5 and below
