Sherman opens 2026 season at Denison's Munson Stadium in a rivalry dating to 1902
Sherman ISD lists the non-district game for UIL's opening week, before the two schools head into district races of different sizes.
Sherman's 2026 football season was scheduled to open at Denison in a rivalry that dates to 1902, according to the University Interscholastic League's historical archive. Sherman ISD's official varsity schedule lists the game for 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, at Munson Stadium, with no district-game designation. The date falls inside UIL's Aug. 27–29 window for Week 1.
The first meeting, in 1902, ended in a 15–6 Sherman win, the archive records. It lists the schools as 16 miles apart. Sherman High School announced in October 2024 that it had won the 126th Battle of the Ax, 31–13, and had that score engraved on the traveling trophy.
After the opener, the schools play in districts of different sizes, and Gainesville's district is smaller than either. UIL's 2026–28 assignments put Gainesville in Class 4A Division II, District 6, a six-school district with Krum, Lake Worth, Ponder, Sanger and Van Alstyne. Sherman is in Class 5A Division I, District 3, a seven-school district with Azle, Denton, Denton Ryan, Fort Worth Chisholm Trail, Keller Fossil Ridge and Saginaw. Denison is in Class 5A Division II, District 4, a nine-school district with Anna, Celina, Frisco, Frisco Emerson, Frisco Independence, Frisco Memorial, Frisco Panther Creek and Prosper Richland. UIL's playoff rules advance the top four teams from each district in both divisions of Classes 2A through 5A. That means four of six teams in Gainesville's district, four of seven in Sherman's and four of nine in Denison's.
Denison faces the most crowded district
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University Interscholastic League, 2026–28 realignment
The most crowded path to the playoffs
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| Label | Schools in district |
|---|---|
| Denison (5A-II, District 4) | 9 schools |
| Sherman (5A-I, District 3) | 7 schools |
| Gainesville (4A-II, District 6) | 6 schools |
Denison ISD identifies Munson Stadium as the Yellow Jackets' home stadium, at 326 West Crawford in downtown Denison, in Grayson County. Denison's official 2025 schedule placed that year's Sherman game at Bearcat Stadium on Friday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m., also without a district marker.
Sherman's schedule has four non-district games before its Sept. 25 district opener against Keller Fossil Ridge. All ten of its regular-season games are listed with 7 p.m. kickoffs.
The separate Class 5A divisions trace to a 2017 statewide vote. According to UIL's referendum results, superintendents voted 147–77 to divide teams by enrollment for the entire alignment period, beginning in 2018–20, rather than splitting them only for the playoffs.
Superintendents' 2017 vote to split Class 5A teams by enrollment for the entire alignment period
The divisions began with the 2018–20 alignment, instead of splitting teams only for the playoffs.
Football remains the largest boys sport in the country by participation. The National Federation of State High School Associations reported 1,029,588 boys playing 11-player football in 2024–25, and said Texas led all states in participation across high school sports, with 879,403. The federation reported in September 2025 that boys 11-player participation had risen in three of the preceding four years, following six consecutive annual declines before the pandemic.
UIL's 2026 calendar allows a maximum of ten regular-season games over eleven weeks, requires district certification by Nov. 7 and sets the first playoff round for Nov. 12–14.
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