Leaping Lion Tyler

The Tyler Lions will be in District 7-5A Division I once again for football, but the league will be vastly different.

Tyler will still be paired with Lufkin, but the East Texas squads will matched up with mostly new Metroplex area opponents as the UIL announced its biennial realignment and reclassifcation for Texas public schools on Thursday. These will apply for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Back in October, schools turned in enrollment numbers.

The Lions and Panthers will be joined by the Burleson Centennial Spartans (7-4 last season, tied for fourth in District 3-5A D-I), Cleburne Yellowjackets (3-7, tied for fifth in District 4-5A Division I), Dallas Highland Park Scots (11-2, tied for first in District 7-6A), Joshua Owls (2-8, sixth in District 5-5A Division II), Midlothian Panthers (8-3, second in District 4-5A Division I) and Red Oak Hawks (12-1, first in District 4-5A Division I).

Tyler was 6-4 and finished fifth in District 7-5A Division I last season, while Lufkin was 5-5 and finished sixth.

“This will be a really good district with competitive teams and programs,” said Tyler Coach Rashaun Woods, who will be entering his second season as head coach of the Lions.

Woods, who previously coached in Oklahoma before leading the Lions in 2023, saw Texas realignment first hand for the first time.

“It was quite an experience,” said Woods, who attended a gathering of coaches and athletic directors at Birdville ISD in North Richland Hills. “It is quite a bit different than Oklahoma.”

As for the non-district slate, Woods said the Lions will play Marshall in Week 1, followed by Tyler Legacy in Week 2 and Seagoville in Week 3. He said the times and dates will be announced after Tyler Legacy fills out its schedule.

Also, Woods said Tyler and Longview could not work out dates to renew their rivalry as the Lobos moved up to Class 6A.

So for only the third time since 1931, the Lions and Lobos will not tangle on the gridiron. The only seasons they did not meet were in 1955, 2008 and 2009. They have met 100 times with the first meeting in 1910.

“We tried to make it happen,” Longview Coach John King said of the century-long series. “We try and play as many East Texas teams as we can because it helps sub-varsity, the travel involved with those teams, playing good competition, and keeping rivalries going. It just didn’t work out this year.”

Tyler ISD athletic director Greg Priest said the new Tyler district was a bit unexpected.

“It might have been Padilla (ThePadillapoll.com) who had kind of that district, but it was a nine-team district with the Mesquite schools,” Priest said. “It was thrown out there. But I thought that was not going to happen. It’s definitely a big district with a lot of mileage in between there. We are used to traveling, it’s something we’ve always had to do, but we have a couple of trips farther than we’ve had in the past. It’s a competitive district, and we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Tyler will be in District 10-5A for other sports, including basketball and volleyball.

The Lions will be in a nine-team league with Hallsville, Jacksonville, Lufkin, Marshall, Mount Pleasant, Nacogdoches Texarkana Texas and Whitehouse.

“In the realignment before, we were in a district with Lufkin, Nacogdoches and Jacksonville,” Priest said of the basketball, volleyball and other sports. “Now it’s nine teams and combined with everybody. I think it’s good. We are looking forward to competing in that district.”

As for football, the enrollment numbers for Class 5A Division I are between 1903 and 2274.

Joshua’s enrollment of 1812 would have fallen into 5A Division II, but the Owls elected to opt up.

Other enrollments include: Tyler (2101), Burleson Centennial (2193), Cleburne (1986), Highland Park (2165), Lufkin (2159), Midlothian (1941) and Red Oak (2716).

The district will spread from Cowtown to the Rose City to the Piney Woods, thus a lot of miles on Friday night.

Woods said when he was in Oklahoma, the nearest opponents were at least an hour-and-a-half away so he is accustomed to long bus rides.

“It would be nice to play someone down the street so you would return earlier from games, but we are use to traveling,” he said.

Burleson Centennial, Cleburne and Joshua are all south of Fort Worth. Highland Park is in the middle of Dallas, while Red Oak and Midlothian are south of Big D.

Lufkin is the closest traveling partner for Tyler at 90 miles. Other approximate distances include: Highland Park (105), Red Oak (109), Midlothian (118), Burleson Centennial (139), Cleburne (145) and Joshua (145).

For Lufkin, the longest distance is 195 miles to Cleburne.

While traveling long distances isn’t the most convenient, Midlothian coach Doug Wendel is looking forward to facing his new opponents and relishing in the road trips.

“I’ve always loved East Texas. Very excited about the opportunity to play at Rose Stadium in Tyler,” Wendel told the Dallas Morning News. “Lufkin has a long tradition of good football. Highland Park has a beautiful stadium. Should be fun environments to play in.”

Tyler will be in Region II for all sports.

The bi-district for the first round of the football playoffs will come from District 8-5A Division I for football, which includes Cedar Park, Georgetown, Georgetown East View, Killeen Chaparral, Lake Belton, Leander, Leander Glenn and Leander Rouse.

For bi-district in other sports the Tyler district will go up against District 9-5A, which includes Anna, Denison, Greenville, Lucas Lovejoy, McKinney North, Melissa, Prosper Walnut Grove and Sherman.

Schools have the option of appealing their assignment to the UIL.