SMHS ATHLETICS
San Marcos will stay south for the next two years as the UIL released the 2026-2028 Realignment .
San Marcos will move into District 27 but will keep district bunkmates Cibolo Steele, Converse Judson, New Braunfels Canyon, San Antonio East Central and Schertz Clemens. Joining District 27 will be San Antonio Pieper and San Antonio Wagner who both are moving up from Class 5A.
“It was pretty predictable,” Head Coach and Athletic Director John Walsh said. “When you looked at all the experts that were given projections by Carl Padilla and Matt Stepp, it looked like we were going to stay in the same district minus SA Pieper. It didn’t surprise me one bit.”
Having played with the majority of the district opponents for the last four seasons, Walsh talked about the positives of being familiar with everyone in the district and having new district opponents.
“We’re familiar with most everybody there except for Pieper,” Walsh said. “We’ve played Wagner the last few years so being familiar is a plus. But then on the flip side, it’s good to have someone new like Pieper. You don’t want to just be beating your head against the same opponents, year in and year out so it’s good to have someone new there.”
Despite losing several starters from a star-studded class, Walsh is excited for the upcoming players returning for this season, including 12 sophomores who played on varsity last season.
“We’re really fired up,” Walsh said. “When we played 12 of them on the varsity, which usually the golden rule is for every sophomore you play, it’s a loss on your schedule in football. That wasn’t the case with this group. Our senior class, there’s not a whole lot of them, but there’s some star power, led by Jordan Lampkin and Aiden Benavides. Then that junior class is just a really good class. It’s going to be a fun district and we’ll be in the mix of it.”
This year’s tentative schedule will see three non-district games with the season opener being the renewal of the San Marcos-Hays rivalry. The 2026 season opener will be the first time both Hays and San Marcos have met on the gridiron since 2021 and will be the 19th meeting between the Hays County rivals.
San Marcos will also play Liberty Hill and San Antonio Madison in non-district play.
DISTRICT 27 6A
•Cibolo Steele
•Converse Judson
•New Braunfels Canyon
•San Antonio East Central •San Antonio Pieper
•San Antonio Wagner
•San Marcos
•Schertz Clemens
2026 TENTATIVE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
•vs. Hays [Non-District]
•@ Liberty Hill [Non-District]
•vs. San Antonio Madison [Non-District]
•vs. San Antonio Pieper [District]
•@ New Braunfels Canyon [District] •@ Cibolo Steele [District]
•vs. Schertz Clemens [District]
•@ Converse Judson [District]
•vs. San Antonio Wagner [District] •@ East Central [District]
San Marcos is set to face Hays for the 2026 football season opener. This is the first meeting between the Hays County archrivals since 2021 and will mark the 19th all-time meeting. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo
