The UIL handed many Brazos Valley schools some odd twists -- even when they got an even number of teams in their districts.

A trio of four-team districts and five odd-numbered districts had some area football coaches scrambling to fill nondistrict dates after the UIL announced its biennial realignment Thursday.

"You're danged right I was surprised," said Iola football coach Scott Bishop, whose Bulldogs will play in four-team District A-11 Division I. "We can compete in the district that we got. Seeing how Anderson stayed in 2A and Normangee and Somerville pulled out, that's what pulled us to the southeast."

Iola will have a long trek east to play the nearest of its district opponents, for District A-11 Division I includes Colmesneil, Hull-Daisetta and West Hardin.

"I don't really understand the reasoning or the concept," Bishop said of the four-team district. "We had a five-team district the last couple of years, and I had never heard of that, either. But with three of us going to the playoffs, you've got a 75 percent chance of going."

Colmesneil, roughly a 128-mile drive one way, is the nearest road trip for Iola. A trip to Hull-Daisetta is estimated at 135 miles and would be the longest, but Iola has played Hull-Daisetta in nondistrict.

Caldwell, Navasota, Rockdale and Madisonville will be reunited in 18-3A, which includes Taylor and new College Station High School. The district is the same as the one Rudder played in when it opened in 2008 with the exception of Cameron, which has since dropped to 2A.

Because College Station will not play varsity football for two seasons, 18-3A is effectively a five-team football district, and that had at least one of the league's coaches scrambling Thursday to fill his upcoming schedule that will include six nondistrict games.

Navasota head foootball coach Lee Fedora, who was already having trouble scheduling games after five straight appearances in the 3A Division I quarterfinals, is trying to find another nondistrict team to play.

"I usually have my schedule set within two or three hours after realignment is released," said Fedora, who had eight games firmly set and was considering a long road trip for a ninth. "I'm glad we're winning. My first year here, I had a thousand calls looking for a game."

Madisonville has often, and most recently, been aligned with schools to the north but is returning to a Brazos Valley district.

Palestine Westwood's move down from 3A coupled with a climb up for Franklin helped form 11-2A Division I, which includes Crockett, Elkhart, Teague and Trinity.

Cameron retained five current district opponents -- Florence, Academy, Marlin, Troy and McGregor -- but is shifting to Region IV in the new 13-2A Division I, which will include Salado and Lago Vista. Salado is moving down from 3A.

Hearne and Centerville are in District 11-2A Division II along with Bruceville-Eddy, Crawford, Rosebud-Lott, Buffalo and former Class A schools Riesel and Moody.

The Eagles will play against similar-sized schools in one of the Brazos Valley's two eight-team districts, and Hearne football coach Ralph Lymas says he likes it.

"The UIL takes a lot of criticism," Lymas said. "I will say this to a lot of people: Try and do their job. I've been head coach for 24 years and have been coaching for 33, and this is probably one of the best alignments I have seen."

Anderson-Shiro will begin playing varsity football as a member of 12-2A Division II, which includes Corrigan-Camden, Groveton, Hemphill, New Waverly and Deweyville.

The Lexington Eagles and Rogers are moving to Region IV with Schulenburg, Blanco, Jarrell, Johnson City and Universal City Randolph in 14-2A Division II.

Leon fell one student under the cutoff to be in Class 2A, but the quality of competition in the Cougars' new 12-A Division I is formidable. Mart, a state champion two years ago and a semifinalist last season, will be in the district, along with talent-rich Axtell, who played in the same 2A district with Leon last fall. Bosqueville and Valley Mills complete that five-team district, which has the Cougars in the extreme southeast portion of it. Leon is the only team in the district that didn't make the playoffs in 2011.

"I watched a lot of 1A football in the playoffs," Leon football coach Keith Sitton said. "I've either seen these guys on film or I've seen them in the playoffs, so we have an idea of what we are looking at.

"Looking at some of these rosters, they are suiting out 22 or 23 and that's what we do. We're not playing people who are suiting out 32 or 33 kids anymore. We were outnumbered in 2A, and I think that's going to be the biggest difference for us."

Bremond and Normangee were moved into four-team 12-A Division II and will likely play seven nondistrict games before kicking off against a district opponent. Lovelady and Chilton are also in a district full of playoff tradition.

District 13-A Division II kept five of its six current members -- Burton, Milano, Snook, Bartlett and Granger. The addition is Somerville, which moves down a division.

Since 6-man split to two divisions, Calvert has not had a district opponent nearer than Buckholts. That will not change, but the teams in the Trojans' district have. Calvert will join Karnack (207 miles one way), Trinidad and Milford in 6-man Division II's District 16.