A NEW ‘DISTRICT OF DOOM’ | UIL announces realignment; Carthage, Gilmer and PG all in same district; Kilgore, PT, and Henderson stay together

There’s a new “District of Doom” as a result of the University Interscholastic League’s bi-annual realignment.

Two-time defending Class 4A, Division II state football champion Carthage will have a good bit tougher district in football the next two school years, as the UIL confirmed that the Bulldogs will play in District 8-4A, DII, and with them: longtime rival Gilmer and always-tough Pleasant Grove.

Also in that district will be Center, Spring Hill (Longview) and Pittsburg.

Coaches and athletic directors from across the East Texas region gathered in Kilgore at Region VII Monday morning for the announcement, and in all likelihood, to also set potential non-district games. The UIL realigns its districts for all sports every two years, so the new district alignments announced today will be good for the 2026-27 school year that begins this fall, and for the 2027-28 school year. Classifications are based on enrollment of each school, and then the UIL tries to keep district alignments based on proximity of location, as best as possible.

ETBlitz.com covers Carthage and Gilmer, as well as Kilgore, Henderson and Pine Tree (all in Class 4A, Division I), Gladewater, Sabine, Tatum and White Oak (all in 3A-DI), Arp, Troup and West Rusk (all in 3A-DII), Beckville (2A-DI), Overton (in 2A-DII), and Leverett’s Chapel (six-man’s 1A-DI).

Here are the alignments for football. Below, we’ll discuss district alignments for the other sports.

The district involving Kilgore, Henderson and Pine Tree will now be District 8-4A, Division I, and those three remain together. The cast in the district has changed, though.

Gone is Mabank, and back in is Jacksonville, coming down a classification from 5A-DII to 4A-DI.

So the new 8-4A, DI district will be Kilgore, Henderson, Pine Tree, Jacksonville, Lindale, Chapel Hill, Palestine, and another addition, Bullard, who comes up a division. The Panthers have competed in the district with Carthage (4A-DII) the last few years. It’s an eight-team district, which means each school will likely play only three non-district opponents. It’ll be interesting to see if Kilgore will keep Carthage, Gilmer and Pleasant Grove as non-district opponents. Those programs, all 4A powers in both 4A divisions, have met the last few years, although Carthage and Gilmer don’t always play in the regular season. They will this year, now that they’re district rivals.

As for the four ETBlitz-area 3A-DI programs, they will all remain together in this realignment, too. Sabine, Gladewater, Tatum and White Oak will all play in District 8-3A, Division I, and also remaining in that district will be Atlanta and Liberty-Eylau.

Gone is Jefferson, who is down a division to 3A-DII, will join Arp, West Rusk, Troup, New Diana, and Winona in 3A-DII. That’ll be a shock to the system for that district: Jefferson has been state-ranked often the last few years.

Beckville, competing in the larger 2A division (DI), will be a part of District 11-2A, DI, along with Elysian Fields, Union Grove, Harleton, Paul Pewitt, Ore City, and Waskom, so that’s a little smaller “District of Doom.” And Overton, in 2A-DII, will be in District 11-2A, DII, with Alto, Cushing, Grapeland, Cross Roads, Tenaha and Mount Enterprise.

Typical of the last few alignments, Leverett’s Chapel remains in a small, four-team district in six-man’s 1A, District 13, DI. LC’s district rivals will be Burkeville, Chester, and Union Hill (in Gilmer).

As mentioned, all of these alignments above have been for football.

Now, for other sports like basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and track, districts are different. Soccer is also different, because so many schools don’t have soccer teams (an altogether different alignment for soccer).

The district alignment for 4A for most other major sports other than soccer has all FIVE of the 4A programs that ETBlitz.com covers — Carthage, Gilmer, Henderson, Kilgore and Pine Tree — in one huge District 16-4A, as usual, along with Chapel Hill, Spring Hill and Cumberland Academy in Tyler. There’s no change in that from recent years. It’s the exact same.

For our 3A programs, Arp, Sabine, West Rusk, Tatum, and Troup are all in a district together — District 13 — joined by Winona.

White Oak and Gladewater, though, will compete in District 12-3A, alongside Daingerfield, New Diana, Hughes Springs and Jefferson.

Even more confusing, the volleyball district is different for them. In volleyball only, White Oak and Gladewater are TOGETHER with Arp, Sabine, West Rusk, Tatum and Troup, all in District 13. So it’s an All-ETBlitz district, if you will, for volleyball the next two school years.

As for Beckville and Overton in 2A, Beckville will compete in District 21 in most major sports with Gary, Elysian Fields, Harleton, Linden-Kildare, McLeod, Ore City and Waskom, a large district. Overton will be in District 22, alongside Alto, Cushing, Douglass, Mount Enterprise, Carlisle and New Summerfield.

In volleyball, however, Beckville and Overton will be district rivals in 20-2A, with Elysian Fields, Carlisle and Waskom.

Leverett’s Chapel volleyball will compete in District 23-1A, with Laneville, Neches and Trinidad.

We’ll have more on UIL realignment later today on ETBlitz.com, including surrounding schools of interest, and possibly even a few non-district games, if they’re scheduled.