After 15 years of playing predominantly regular season competition on the eastern side of the state, the Durant Lions’ 2026 football schedule will have a much more western flair to it as they renew several old acquaintances.
The OSSAA released two-year district slates across the state last week with Durant moving to the new District 5A-1 where they will join perennial power Carl Albert, Guthrie, Duncan, Noble, Lawton and Midwest City in a rare seventeam league that was the result of a pair of teams originally set for Class 5A electing to opt out of district action.
“We’re excited,” Durant head coach Todd Vargas stated. “It’s a new district with new teams. Most of them are people our kids have never played so we will see how we compete and fare in the west now. Our coaching staff is excited about the opportunity. And honestly the travel is really not any further than making three or four treks to the Tulsa area every year.
“Obviously there are some really good teams on both sides of the state in Class 5A. Just in the last few years we have had three teams in our district ranked #1 at various times so we are accustomed to stout competition. I think the road to the playoffs is achievable. Durant has a history of being in the west in the past. My first year as a graduate assistant at Durant in 1996 we were in a western district.”
With the rare seven-team district in which four will qualify for playoff competition, the Lions ran into another obstacle of having to find a fourth non-district opponent.
Durant is once again scheduled to meet Ada and Broken Bow in its first two contests and has reunited with Ardmore to face the Tigers for the first time since 2019. That left the final non-district contest that resulted with a matchup against Class 4A traditionrich Clinton, which the Lions have only squared off with one time and that was the 1978 state championship game.
“We had to pick up another non-district game,” Vargas said. “We would have liked to have gotten one closer but couldn’t do it and ended up coming to an agreement with Clinton. We also meet up with Ardmore again for the first time in a while. No matter how you slice it, 5A is a really competitive class as well as the 4A teams on our schedule, whether it’s in the east or west.”
The Lions’ district slate opens in Week 5 of the season when they host Duncan before visiting Carl Albert in Week 6. Durant has not met Duncan on the gridiron since 2011 and has not played Carl Albert since 2009.
In Week 7, they will host Midwest City, which has recently dropped in enrollment size to Class 5A and then travel to meet Lawton High at Cameron Stadium in Week 8. The Lions have never faced off with Midwest City and will tangle with Lawton for the first time since 1965.
Week 9 will see Guthrie visiting Durant for the school’s first gridiron meeting since 2011 and the Lions will close out on the road at Noble in Week 10. It will be the first battle with the Bears since 2017.
“The landscape of Class 5A has definitely changed in recent years,” Vargas added. “Some teams that were considered really good teams have struggled a bit as of late, whether that has been a numbers issue like some of the former 6A schools, or not. It is going to be exciting, especially with as young a team as we will put on the field.
“Some of our other sports have had a history of playing west in district play in recent years. This may only be a twoyear deal though because the OSSAA is likely going to restructure a different criteria with how teams are classified, instead of just by enrollment, over the next few years.”