Jefferson County high school football will look different next season.
The Arkansas Activities Association announced football alignments for the 2026-28 cycle on Thursday, and every county school was affected by the newest changes.
Watson Chapel will move down to Class 4A, an alignment consistent with its non-football sports. Pine Bluff and White Hall will remain in Class 5A, but both will change conferences to 5A South. The county will add a new varsity team this year with Friendship Aspire now an official 8-man football team.
The Wildcats will replace Helena-West Helena Central in Conference 4A-8 with Helena dropping to 3A. Watson Chapel will match up with fellow southeast Arkansas schools Crossett, DeWitt, Hamburg, Monticello, Star City, Stuttgart and Warren. Watson Chapel already plays five of those schools in Conference 4A-8 in non-football sports.
The Zebras and Bulldogs will play a contingent of southwest Arkansas schools, many of whom Pine Bluff and White Hall are already playing in non-football sports as members of 5A South. The new conference will consist of Texarkana Arkansas High, Camden Fairview, De Queen, Hot Springs, Hot Springs Lakeside and Magnolia.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The 8-man ranks will expand to three conferences this cycle. Friendship Aspire will join the other three southeast Arkansas teams already at this level, Woodlawn, Hermitage and Dermott, in 8-man South alongside Blevins, Lafayette County and Strong.
Outside of Jefferson County, Sheridan will remain in Conference 6A East. The only change to that conference is the return of Searcy after a two-year stint in Class 5A. Little Rock Catholic will move to 6A West to make room for the Lions.
Southeast Arkansas’ Class 3A league, 3A-8, will remain largely unchanged other than adding Helena from 4A. Palestine-Wheatley will leave the conference to join 3A-3 to make room for the Cougars. There will still be no southeast Arkansas teams in Class 2A.
Other notable changes to Class 5A include 6A juggernaut Greenwood dropping down while 4A contenders Mills and Dardanelle move up. Elsewhere, 6A champion Shiloh Christian moves up to 7A while Little Rock Southwest moves down. Class 3A will contain 47 schools this cycle due to a tie in enrollment numbers.