The Iowa High School Athletic Association on Thursday announced changes destined for the 2018 and 2019 football seasons, including a big shake-up in Classifications and Districts.
West Branch will remain in Class 1A where it has been for recent memory. However, the team will move out of District 3 and in to District 4 where it is matched up with teams primarly from the northeast portion of the state. District 4 in its entirety is as follows:
- Beckman Catholic, Dyersville
- Bellevue
- Cascade, Western Dubuque
- North Cedar, Stanwood
- Northeast, Goose Lake
- West Branch
For the past two seasons, Districts in Class 1A had contained eight teams, which meant seven District games and two out-of-District games for each team. For the next two seasons however, the number of District games drops to five and doubles out-of-District to four. For the 2018 and 2019 seasons, West Branch will play all of its District 4 opponents both at home and on the road.
Over the next few weeks, West Branch will talk with other teams in the area to build their suggested out-of-District list of games that will be submitted to the State, who will ultimately fill in each team's four out-of-District games to complete the nine-game schedule. It is unknown at this time when the full 2018 and 2019 schedules will be announced.
Other teams in the area that West Branch is familiar with will be seeing some changes as well. Check out all of the Classification and District assignments over on the IHSAA's website.
