The number of Class 2 high school football programs in 2021 has shrunk, with the smaller number of programs leaving just six teams in the state north of Highway 36, with all six, including the Trenton Bulldogs, in Class 2, District 7. The district will be, in geographical terms, one of the largest in the state, stretching from Maryville in the northwest, all the way to Clark County (Kahoka, MO), Palmyra and Macon in the northeast. Along with Trenton, the Brookfield Bulldogs will complete the district pairings. The top two seeds in the district will receive first-round byes, with the #6 seed playing at the #3 seed, and the #5 seed playing at the #4 seed in the quarterfinal round in late October.
The remainder of Class 2 teams in the listening area will come from District 8, with six schools making up that group, all in and around the Kansas City area, with KCI Conference squads Lathrop and Lawson joined by St. Michael, Pembroke Hill, Lexington, and Hogan Prep.
Trenton’s brethren in the Grand River Conference will be grouped into Class 1, District 7, with Gallatin, Maysville, Milan, Polo, Princeton, Putnam County, and South Harrison joining former GRC squad Penney High of Hamilton in that eight-team tournament. District 8 will consist of schools further south into the KCI Conference foot-print, as East Buchanan, Mid-Buchanan, North Platte, West Platte, and Plattsburg are joined by Carrollton, University Academy, and Wellington-Napoleon.
Perennial power Marceline will be in a northeast Missouri District 6, in a grouping that includes Highland, Paris, Salisbury, Scotland County, South Shelby, and Westran.
In Class 3, the Chillicothe Hornets will reside in District 8, with a mix of seven Kansas City schools and Midland Empire Conference squads. Three schools hail from Kansas City, in Central High School, St. Pius X, and Northeast High School, joined by St. Joseph Benton, Cameron, and Savannah.
In the eight-man district pairings, GRC squads Albany, North Andrew, Stanberry, and Worth County are in District 4, joined by Mound City, Rock Port, South Holt, Platte Valley, East Atchison, and Nodaway Valley.
District 3 has the eight-man teams generally in the KTTN/KGOZ listening area, with Braymer, Pattonsburg, Southwest Livingston, and King City joined by Bishop LeBlond, DeKalb, Northland Christian, Orrick, St. Joseph Christian, and Stewartsville-Osborn.
District 2 will consist of northeast Missouri schools and ones toward the Missouri River valley, with the Keytesville-Northwestern-Brunswick cooperative joined by St. Paul Lutheran, Schuyler County, Santa Fe, Northwest of Hughesville, North Shelby, Norborne, and Concordia.
District 1 consists of nine schools all south of Kansas City in the southwest to west-central areas of Missouri, including Archie, Drexel, Rich Hill, Osceola, and Liberal.
