The Nebraska School Activities Association has released football classifications for the 2026 and 2027 school years.
Grand Island and Kearney remain Class A schools, and with Class A expanding to 36 schools for the cycle, Bennington, Lincoln Standing Bear, Lincoln Northwest, and Elkhorn North are joining from Class B.
Of the 23 schools that will comprise Class B, five local schools are still in the classification. Hastings and Lexington are within the top 10 schools in Class B for Boys Enrollment, while Aurora and Platteview were both right above the 160 student cutoff to be in Class B. Omaha Gross Catholic moved up from Class C1
In C1, Holdrege, Broken Bow, Minden, Cozad, and Adams Central remain in the classification. Kearney Catholic bumped up to C1 based on their three year boy enrollment average.
Class C2 Football will have Gothenburg, who finished 8-2 in C1 last year, Grand Island Central Catholic, St. Paul, Doniphan-Trumbull, Wood River, and Ord. The new H&H football co-op of Heartland and Hampton will compete in C2.
Gibbon is one of the largest schools in the Eight Man ranks that is eligible in D1 for the upcoming cycle. The Buffaloes are in the eight man ranks after a 1-8 season in C2. Other local schools include Alma, Sandy Creek, Arcadia/Loup City, Ravenna, and two other schools who moved to the eight man ranks in Hastings St. Cecilia and Amherst. Elm Creek moves up to D1 after a 6-3 campaign in D2 last year. Six schools are ineligible for the playoffs in the cycle. They are Conestoga, David City, Fairbury, Falls City, Freeman, and Johnson County Central.
Eight high schools are in the D2 classification locally, as Arapahoe, Maywood/Hayes Center, Hi-Line, Loomis, Franklin, Kenesaw, Shelton, Wilcox-Hildreth are part of the 36 teams overall.
The new D3 classification, which was formed earlier this year, features 41 schools. Eight of them are in Central Nebraska, with Southern Valley, Blue Hill, Lawrence-Nelson, Anselmo-Merna, Axtell, Pleasanton, Deshler, and Overton competing in the new classification.
The Six-Man ranks have three schools ineligible for the playoffs in McCool Junction, Mead, and Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer. Harvard and Southwest are both eligible for playoffs via waiver. Ansley/Litchfield, Red Cloud, SEM, Grand Island Lutheran, Silver Lake, Giltner, and Elba will all compete in six-man football for the upcoming year.
You can find the full classification list for NSAA schools here. District assignments will be announced by the NSAA later this month, and schedules for NSAA schools will be announced by the association on February 11, 2026.
CLASS A (School followed by Boy Enrollment)
Grand Island (1023), Kearney (649)
CLASS B
Hastings (385), Lexington (384), Grand Island Northwest (268), York (184), Aurora (161)
CLASS C1
Holdrege (125), Broken Bow (94), Cozad (94), Minden (93), Kearney Catholic (80.3333 rounded to 81, three year boy enrollment tie-breaker)
CLASS C2
Gothenburg (78), Grand Island Central Catholic (77), St. Paul (70), Doniphan-Trumbull (66), H & H (59), Wood River (59), Ord (57)
CLASS D1
Gibbon (55), Alma (52), Sandy Creek (50), Arcadia/Loup City (48), Elm Creek (48), Ravenna (48), Hastings St. Cecilia (46), Amherst (45)
CLASS D2
Arapahoe (42) Maywood/Hayes Center (40), Hi-Line (37) Loomis (36) Franklin (35) Kenesaw (35) Shelton (35) Wilcox-Hildreth (35)
CLASS D3
Southern Valley (36), Blue Hill (34), Lawrence-Nelson (30), Anselmo-Merna (28), Axtell (28), Pleasanton (28), Deshler (27), Overton (26)
CLASS D6
McCool Junction (29 – ineligible for playoffs), Harvard (28 – eligible for playoffs via waiver), Ansley/Litchfield (27), Red Cloud (26), Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (24), Grand Island Lutheran (23), Silver Lake (23), Giltner (20), Elba (12)
