Llano to face new foes familiar rivals next two years

CAPTION: Llano High School athletic director and football head coach Matt Green (right) along with offensive coordinator Ryan Priem (to Green’s left), and offensive coaches Ryan Norwood, Colton Center and Robbie Coplin will scheme against some new district opponents in the fall. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

After years of supremacy in Class 3A Division I Region IV, the Llano High School football team will look to continue that trend in Region I.

That’s because when the University Interscholastic League unveiled realignment Feb. 2, Llano completed the trifecta of Highland Lakes public school programs that found itself in the same classification but a new region.

Llano (509.5 students) will become a member of District 3-3A Division I with Early (378), Ingram Tom Moore (444), San Angelo Texas Leadership (454) and Wall (370).

The Yellow Jackets dominated in District 13-3A Division I for years since Matt Green, who is in the midst of his eighth year, was hired as the head football coach and athletic director. He has guided the Jackets to five district titles, including a three-peat from 2020-2022 and added the 2024 and 2025 championships.

Coaches don’t wait until the official UIL announcement to begin putting together their non-district schedules. They start that around the time the regular season is coming to an end and have verbal agreements. Green was no different.

But the realignment surprises triggered changes and ended some verbal agreements, Green said.

“It’s just been the hardest realignment I’ve ever gone through, probably more stressful than any realignment I’ve ever gone through,” he said. “I’ve talked to coaches in the past that have probably experienced what I think I experienced (Feb. 2) and even (Feb. 3). But it’s all worked out and thank goodness. But it has been quite a process and you have verbal agreements with people that you trust on your games and inevitably the real alignment comes out and sometimes it’s exactly what you think and sometimes it’s not what you think. And then the surprise will come where a coach will call you out of the blue and drop you when he said he wasn’t going to do that. And before you know it, you have a mess on your hands, a full-on mess, and that’s probably what we encountered.”

As a result, Green said he considered scheduling opponents that would have been hours away from Llano.

“San Angelo Lakeview potentially could have been an opponent and Glen Rose is a long ways,” he said. “And then after that, you’re going all the way into the metroplex or Lubbock or northwest of Fort Worth into that district. Well, those are four-hour trips one way. It just got really tough.” 

In the end, the Jackets’ non-district schedule was filled with familiar foes. They’ll play Burnet Aug. 28 to begin the regular season followed by Tuscola Jim Ned, Blanco, Lago Vista, Bandera and Brady. Burnet and Brady are long-time rivals to the Jackets that go back decades, while Lago Vista and Blanco have had some classic battles against Llano in district play when the three were in the same district as recently as the 2021 season.

Jim Ned is a District 2-3A Division I member, and this contest could be a preview of a playoff game.

Llano starts district play against Wall, the 2025 Class 3A Division II champion, Oct. 2 then faces Ingram, has a bye, Texas Leadership and Early to end the regular season. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football released its “Districts of Doom” shortly after realignment was announced. This district, Green said, was honorable mention.

The other hurdle is that Llano is in a five-team district, not six, so Green had to find a sixth non-district opponent for his program that has an 83-30 overall record and 17-7 playoff record . And the fact is, most coaches don’t want to face a program with a track record of success like Llano if they don’t have to, he said.

“There was just hardly anybody around and people had to get super creative to make this happen,” he said. “That’s the real challenge. If anything had me frustrated, it’s that I needed a week six game. Most of the teams that I could play were in our sister district (District 4-3A Division I), meaning I could play them in the first round of the playoffs as well. It worked out.”

Llano will face the same district opponents in volleyball and basketball with the exception of Brady, which dropped to Class 2A. The only change, and it’s a significant one according to girls athletic coordinator Jay Parker, is that Llano, Blanco, Comfort, Florence and Ingram will now play in District 25-3A after spending the last four years in District 5-3A.

“It’ll be good for us,” he said.

2026 Llano football schedule

Burnet

Tuscola Jim Ned

Blanco

Lago Vista

Bandera

Brady

Wall

Ingram

Bye

Texas Leadership

Early