Texoma Heat Stays in View as Friday Football Opens

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Texas high school football returned across Texoma on the UIL’s opening week with late-August heat still fresh in the record book, including Gainesville’s road game at Bridgeport and Sherman’s rivalry game at Denison on Friday, Aug. 28. For Cooke County families, the first football weekend arrived in the same school year that UIL began requiring Wet Bulb Globe Temperature monitoring for outdoor school athletics and marching band.

The UIL 2026 football calendar set Week One playing dates for Aug. 27, 28 and 29. Gainesville High School’s athletics page listed the Leopards’ varsity football game at Bridgeport for 7 p.m. Aug. 28.

Denison was also part of opening Friday in Texoma. Sherman ISD listed Sherman at Denison in the Battle of the Ax at 7 p.m. Aug. 28 at Munson Stadium. Denison ISD identifies Munson Stadium, 326 West Crawford, as the home field for the Denison Yellow Jackets.

The football weekend came after NWS Norman reported record-setting heat at Wichita Falls, a Texoma-area climate site. NWS Norman said Wichita Falls reached 109 degrees on Aug. 22. Two days later, the office reported a 110-degree high there, breaking the Aug. 24 daily record previously set in 2006.

NWS and NOAA records document recent late-summer high-temperature periods in the region. NWS Norman’s Wichita Falls heat tables list 2023 as tied for the most 110-degree-or-hotter days in a calendar year at that station, and list an August 2024 stretch at or above 105 degrees among the longer heat streaks recorded there. NOAA county data put Cooke County’s August 2023 average temperature at about 90 degrees, second in the county series behind 2011.

NOAA reported that Texas had its second-warmest August on record in 2023. The agency also reported that July 2026 was the warmest July and warmest month in the contiguous U.S. record.

Under the UIL heat plan, schools must use WBGT monitoring for outdoor UIL athletic and marching-band activities beginning with the 2026-2027 school year. For practice, UIL says readings must be taken shortly before activity starts and repeated during practice.

UIL says its WBGT practice limits do not apply to competitions. The league says schools should still monitor WBGT before and during games and may reschedule contests in extreme conditions. UIL also requires rapid-cooling zones at outdoor contests and practices once WBGT readings meet the league’s listed heat-class thresholds.

The opening schedule also reflected regular UIL football timing. The UIL calendar gives schools 11 weeks to play up to 10 games, with district certification due Nov. 7 and the first playoff week set for Nov. 12-14.

Sherman ISD said UIL’s February 2026 realignment started the process of setting district and non-district football schedules. The district said Sherman’s first varsity game in its new multipurpose stadium was scheduled for Sept. 18, leaving the Bearcats’ Aug. 28 opener at Denison’s Munson Stadium. Denison ISD’s ticket page lists adult premium varsity football tickets at $10 and says regular home-event punch passes do not cover varsity football games.