Dec. 4—Every two years, the state's high schools are rearranged for the purpose of athletics, and there are always some new wrinkles.
The realignment and classification for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years, which was voted on and confirmed Thursday morning by the New Mexico Activities Association's Board of Directors, features some major alterations, particularly as it pertains to football.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFor example, Cleveland and La Cueva are now district partners.
Cibola, Los Lunas, Alamogordo, Piedra Vista and Santa Fe are all leaving Class 6A for a newly formed Class 5A.
Volcano Vista and Eldorado face some comprehensive travel in the two seasons ahead.
The NMAA board had two proposals in front of them for football. The option they voted for keeps in place the large districts that were introduced two years ago.
The number of football-playing schools in 6A, 5A, 4A and 3A was an effort to create equity. The top 16 enrollment schools in New Mexico — a formula based on the average of the 80-day student counts in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and the 40-day count from this year — comprise Class 6A.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWest Mesa was the 16th-largest school on this list. And that's how this was organized, in 16s. The top 16 enrollment schools are 6A, the next 16 largest are Class 5A, and so on.
"This was actually pushed by our bylaws committee," NMAA executive director Dusty Young said. "This option came up and received quite a bit of traction."
Young earlier this year had already said he anticipated larger districts staying in place for the next two years. With an equal number of teams in districts, Young said, the schools have indicated to him that scheduling early non-district games will be a simpler task.
"The most important thing," said La Cueva football coach Brandon Back, "is that we have an even number."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDistrict 1-6A starts with Cleveland and La Cueva, and also includes Albuquerque High, Atrisco Heritage, Farmington, Rio Rancho, Sandia and West Mesa.
District 2 will be spread out, to be sure, with Clovis, Carlsbad, Centennial, Organ Mountain, Hobbs and Las Cruces, plus Eldorado and Volcano Vista.
"It's tough to pick two out of that many (teams from Albuquerque) to send that way," Young said, asked why the Eagles and Hawks were selected.
Two of the city's great district rivalry games, Eldorado-La Cueva and Cibola-Volcano Vista, are no more, at least for two years, although they could still schedule one another in their limited three-game, non-district window.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"We love the rivalry we have with Eldorado," Back said, "and we hope we can keep that up."
Eldorado and Volcano Vista will inherit the most travel miles of any of the city's 6A programs, with three southern trips in 2026 and three more in 2027.
"The part I'm not looking forward to is the travel," Volcano coach Chad Wallin said, adding, "It's not a little change, it's a drastic one. I'm still a little in shock (about) it."
Wallin said he was given no reason why Volcano Vista was chosen.
Eagles coach Charlie Dotson declined comment Thursday.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFollowing the top 16, the next 16 is led by Cibola, Piedra Vista, Santa Fe, Los Lunas and Alamogordo, which now head up Class 5A.
Four of those schools — not Alamogordo — are in District 1-5A, along with Capital, Highland, Los Alamos and Miyamura. Alamo joins Artesia, Deming, Gadsden, Goddard, Mayfield, Roswell and Chaparral (the Lobos were most recently a 4A program) in 2-5A.
Although Artesia and Goddard are 33rd and 34th on the enrollment list, which would have them in the 4A division, they stay 5A because two schools above them in enrollment, Manzano and Santa Teresa, are competing in 4A.
Just as there are former 6A programs who are going to 5A based on the new enrollment set-up, there are also a handful of current 5A teams that are falling to 4A, like Lovington, Valley, Del Norte, Santa Teresa, Rio Grande and Belen.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMoriarty and Silver fall from 4A to 3A under this new breakdown.
Class 2A is going to be the largest 11-Man class, by far, with 24 schools, divided up into three, eight-team districts. It has been a 17-team division of late.
Some other notes regarding football:
Dexter, the Class 3A state runner-up the last two years, is going to become a 2A program for the next two years. St. Michael's, the three-time defending state champ in 3A, should be in 2A but is once again choosing to play up in the 3A division so 3A will feature 17 schools instead of 16 schools.
It is not known yet if the NMAA will retain the 12-team brackets for the 11-Man divisions. While 5A was already at 16 schools the last two seasons, and 4A has been at 15, this is the smallest the largest classification (6A) has ever been.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"Once we wrap classification and alignment, then we will start taking a look at state qualifiers, not just in football but for all sports," Young said.
The Class 8-Man and 6-Man calendars are being moved. Starting next year, the 8-Man championship game will be held on the same day as all the 11-Man finals. The 6-Man title game will be played the weekend before Thanksgiving. This was largely done to accommodate officials.
Moreover, the NMAA wants to seed and select the playoff teams in all seven football classifications on the same day as opposed to doing it over multiple weekends.
Other sports
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhile football has one very specific alignment for the next two years, the remaining prep sports have a different packaging altogether. And there were few disruptions among the larger schools through the spring of 2028.
The Class 5A districts, in fact, look very much as they have for the last two school years — with the exception of Cibola.
Cibola has been taken out of the Rio Rancho/Cleveland/Volcano Vista district and placed in District 2 with Capital, Eldorado, La Cueva, Sandia and Santa Fe.
The metro area's two Class 4A districts have been jumbled, but it's essentially the same group of schools, plus now Manzano.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementManzano has been a 4A football program, but 5A in all the major non-football sports, like baseball and basketball. But the school is dropping down to 4A across the board starting next August.
District 5-4A at present is Highland, St. Pius, Belen, Valencia and Grants. The new 5-4A still has St. Pius and Highland, but Valley, Bernalillo and Del Norte have been switched over from District 6 to join the Hornets and Sartans.
Belen, Valencia and Grants were moved from District 5 to District 6, joining Albuquerque Academy and Hope Christian. Manzano is being placed in District 5-4A.
Schools who wish to appeal their placement may do so at a special NMAA meeting next week. The realignments are not official until the appeals are heard and ruled on.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNMAA ALIGNMENT AND CLASSIFICATION (FOOTBALL ONLY) for 2026 and 2027
CLASS 6A — District 1: Albuquerque High, Atrisco Heritage, Cleveland, Farmington, La Cueva, Rio Rancho, Sandia, West Mesa — District 2: Carlsbad, Centennial, Clovis, Eldorado, Hobbs, Las Cruces, Organ Mountain, Volcano Vista
CLASS 5A — District 1: Capital, Cibola, Highland, Los Alamos, Los Lunas, Miyamura, Piedra Vista, Santa Fe — District 2: Alamogordo, Artesia, Chaparral, Deming, Gadsden, Goddard, Mayfield, Roswell
CLASS 4A — District 1: Bernalillo, Bloomfield, Del Norte, Espanola Valley, Manzano, Rio Grande, Taos, Valley — District 2: Albuquerque Academy, Belen, Grants, Lovington, Portales, Santa Teresa, St. Pius, Valencia
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCLASS 3A — District 1: Aztec, Gallup, Pojoaque Valley, Kirtland Central, Robertson, St. Michael's (up), Thoreau, West Las Vegas, Wingate — District 2: Hatch Valley, Hope Christian, Hot Springs, Moriarty, New Mexico Military Institute, Ruidoso, Socorro, Silver
CLASS 2A — District 1: Cuba, Crownpoint, Hozho Academy, Navajo Prep, Newcomb, Shiprock, Tohtdhi, Zuni — District 2: Estancia, Laguna-Acoma, Legacy Academy, McCurdy, Raton, Santa Rosa, Santa Fe Indian, Tucumcari — District 3: Capitan, Cobre, Dexter, Eunice, Jal, Loving, Texico, Tularosa
8-MAN — District 1: Alamo Navajo, Dulce, Navajo Pine, Ramah, Pine Hill — District 2: Clayton/Des Moines, Esclante, Fort Sumner/House, Menaul, Questa — District 3: Gateway Christian, Hagerman/Lake Arthur, Melrowe, Tatum — District 4: Cloudcroft, Lordsburg, Magdalena, Mesilla Valley, Mescalero Apache
6-MAN — District 1: Clovis Christian, Dora, Elida, Floyd, Grady, Logan, Roy/Mosquero — District 2: Animas, Carrizozo, Jemez Valley, Mountainair, NM School/Deaf, Reserve
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNMAA ALIGNMENT FOR 2026-27/2027-28 (NON-FOOTBALL SPORTS)
CLASS 5A (25 teams) — District 1: Cleveland, Farmington, Piedra Vista, Rio Rancho, Volcano Vista — District 2: Capital, Cibola, Eldorado, La Cueva, Sandia, Santa Fe — District 3: Alamogordo, Centennial, Las Cruces, Mayfield, Organ Mountain — District 4: Carlsbad, Clovis, Hobbs, Roswell — District 5: Albuquerque High, Atrisco Heritage, Los Lunas, Rio Grande, West Mesa
CLASS 4A (30) — District 1: Aztec, Bloomfield, Gallup, Kirtland Central, Miyamura — District 2: Espanola Valley, Los Alamos, Moriarty, Pojoaque Valley, Taos — District 3: Chaparral, Deming, Gadsden, Santa Teresa, Silver — District 4: Artesia, Goddard, Lovington, Portales — District 5: Bernalillo, Del Norte, Highland, Manzano, St. Pius, Valley — District 6: Albuquerque Academy, Belen, Grants, Hope Christian, Valencia
CLASS 3A (26) — District 1: Crownpoint, Navajo Prep, Shiprock, Thoreau, Tohatchi, Wingate, Zuni — District 2: ATC, Robertson, Santa Fe Indian, Santa Fe Prep, St. Michael's, West Las Vegas — District 3: Cobre, Hatch Valley, Hot Springs, Socorro — District 4: Dexter, NM Miliary Institute, Ruidoso, Tularosa — District 5: Bosque School, Cottonwood Classical Prep, Cuba, East Mountain, Sandia Prep
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCLASS 2A (34) — District 1: Hozho Academy, Laguna-Acoma, Navajo Pine, Newcomb, Ramah, Rehoboth Christian — District 2: Jemez Valley, Legacy Academy, Menaul, Monte del Sol, NACA/Evangel Christian, Oak Grove Classical Academy — District 3: Capitan, Cloudcroft, Lordsburg, Mescalero, Mesilla Valley — District 4: Eunice, Gateway Christian, Hagerman, Jal, Loving, Tatum, Texico — District 5: Dulce, Escalante, McCurdy, Questa — District 6: Clayton, Estancia, Pecos, Raton, Santa Rosa, Tucumcari
CLASS 1A (36) — District 1: Alamo Navajo, Coronado, Northwest, Pine Hill, To'Hajiilee, Tse'Yi'Gai, Walatowa — District 2: Animas, Cliff, Quemado, Reserve — District 3: Carrizozo, Corona, Hondo Valley, Lake Arthur, Magdalena, Mountainair, Vaughn — District 4: Clovis Christian, Dora, Elida, Floyd, Fort Sumner/House — District 5: Cimarron, Des Moines, Maxwell, Mosquero/Roy, Springer/Wagon Mound — District 6: Mesa Vista, Mora, NM School/Deaf, Peñasco — District 7: Grady, Logan, Melrose, San Jon
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