Football Bears to remain in class 1A for 16-17 seasons

By Matt Chinander  |   January 13, 2016, 3:37 p.m.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has released their preliminary football classifications for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Classifications are determined every two years and are based on the enrollment count of a school's Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior classes.

With an enrollment count of 188, West Branch remains in Class 1A where they have sat for quite a while, with the exception of the late '90s.

All of the Bears' 2014, 2015 District opponents have remained in 1A with the exception of Alburnett, who has dropped to Class A.

Of note for teams in the area, Tipton will now not only be sharing Cedar County with West Branch but they will also belong in the same class, as the Tigers have moved down from 2A into Class 1A.

Of interest, recent opponent Dike-New Hartford has moved up a class to 2A. West Burlington has also moved up a class from 2A to 3A.

Up next for the IHSAA is pairing teams in districts, which will dictate a team's majority schedule for the next two seasons. The athletic association has announced that their board of control will meet January 20th to create the districts and a public announcement will come shortly after.

Keep an eye on the website, Twitter, and Facebook for this announcement. There will also be a new Talking Bear Football podcast episode to follow the announcement to discuss the districts and some other off-season items.