The fall of 2023 will see changes in the district alignments for Iowa high school football, and that will have an impact on a few local teams and the schedule of opponents they play this season.

That includes the Columbus Wildcats and the Highland Huskies, although it’s not a dramatic change. Columbus and Highland remain in Class A District 5 along with Wapello, Pekin and Lisbon, but newcomers Louisa-Muscatine, Van Buren County and Danville join the group. That means last year’s district champion Alburnett has moved out. Columbus fell to Alburnett 32-31 in overtime and finished runner-up in District 5 last season.

The Lone Tree Lions moving out of District 6 is the big local change in 8-man football. The WACO Warriors and Winfield-Mount Union Wolves remain in District 6 alongside New London, Iowa Valley, English Valleys and a co-op team between HLV and Tri-County. Lone Tree joins District 5 and will face Springville, Central City, Easton Valley, Wyoming-Midland, Edgewood-Colesburg and Calamus-Wheatland.

You can hear the Lions’ first game of the season in the debut of the KCII Area Game of the Week on the new KCII3 stream when Lone Tree travels to take on Parkview Christian of Illinois. Coverage begins Friday, August 18th at 6:30 p.m. on KCIIradio.com.