By BRIAN ROSENER ~ DAR Sports Editor

Athletic directors and football coaches around the state got to work today putting together the final touches on their schedules for next fall after MSHSAA released the district assignments for the next two years.

Poplar Bluff will remain in Class 4 but have one new district opponent as Cape Central moved up to Class 5. West Plains and Sikeston will remain with the Mules in District 1 while adding Farmington, which will also join the SEMO North Conference this fall.

The districts for Dexter and Malden will remain the same as this past year, however, the playoff format will be different for all of the 333 teams around the state. The top two teams in each district will advance to the MSHSAA playoffs, which will feature a 32-team bracket for Classes 1-4.

As of Thursday night, PBHS Athletic Director Bill Caputo said only two games were set for the upcoming season. The Mules will open the season at New Madrid County Central on Aug. 29 and travel to Dexter in Week 4, Caputo said.

After 21 years, Blytheville, Ark. and Poplar Bluff will not play next fall.

With West Plains, Farmington and Sikeston already on the schedule for district play, and Cape Central and Jackson set for conference play, Caputo and coach Brian Robbins must now find three teams to play. The two were in meetings Friday morning in Sikeston and St. Louis trying to set up opponents and dates.

Class 4 District 2 features DeSoto, Festus, North County and Windsor.

Dexter will play Kennett, Perryville and New Madrid County Central in Class 3 District 1.

Class 2 District 1 will feature Malden, Caruthersville, Charleston and East Prairie.

Every two years, MSHSAA groups teams into classes based on the enrollment of each school. Classes 1-4 feature 64 teams each while Class 6 has the largest 32 schools. The remaining 45 schools are in Class 5. Class 4 schools have an enrollment between 770 and 1,319. Poplar Bluff's enrollment is just over 1,300 making it one of the largest schools in the class.

Schools are grouped into districts based on "geographical location and conference affiliation" according to a statement from MSHSAA.