AIA 6A Football Region Realignments

The AIA (Arizona Interscholastic Association) has released their region placements for the 2025-27 seasons. There were many controversies with this decision to realign the regions, including lack of geographical accuracy, increased travel distance, and many other factors that I will discuss in further detail in this article. The chief complaints were mostly about lack of regionality and the splitting up of traditional rivalries that have been around for decades. The presumptive reason that the AIA came to this decision is parity, as there are 1-2 major powers per region opposed to last year where the 6A Premier and 6A Northeast Valley regions had 3-4 major powers in their regions. Most of the core rivalries in the sport were kept intact, however, there were exceptions that we will discuss later on. Let’s break down each region thoroughly and see what the landscape of AZ high school football will look like for the next scheduling block.

6A Central

The newly revamped 6A Central region, which last year included Brophy, Corona del Sol, Desert Vista, Mountain Pointe (since has been moved down to the 5A conference), and Salpointe Catholic. The Central division now only brings back Corona del Sol and Desert Vista, while adding three Queen Creek schools: ALA Queen Creek, Casteel, and Queen Creek. ALA Queen Creek appear to be the overwhelming favorites this season for the Central, coming off an Open Division semifinal run. The Patriots would ultimately fall to the Basha Bears in what some argue was the game of the year in the 2024 season. The Patriots will be joined by their crosstown rivals, the Queen Creek Bulldogs, and Chandler Unified school, the Casteel Colts. That leaves the two Tempe Union schools, Corona del Sol and Desert Vista, to round out the region. While not being the most egregious of region placements, the region maintains the rivalry between the Aztecs and the Thunder, as well as maintaining the rivalries between the three Queen Creek schools. Spanning three cities, (Phoenix, Tempe, and Queen Creek) the 6A Central division will be slightly competitive in the lower half, but ALA Queen Creek should win this region without too much hassle, however Tait Reynolds and the Queen Creek Bulldogs could provide a major test for the Patriots. 

6A Desert Valley

The Desert Valley region only returns one team, the Shadow Ridge Stallions. The teams joining them are Brophy, Higley, Saguaro, and Williams Field. The glaring issue with this region is the splitting up of the two Dysart Unified schools. Shadow Ridge is not in the same region as Valley Vista for the first time since I can remember. The aforementioned rivalry is between the two largest schools in Surprise and always provides an exciting game. The game will most definitely be continued, but it will not have any impact towards a region title. The region also gains the Higley Knights, the lone team to move up to the 6A conference from 5A in the last cycle of conference realignment. The Knights will be paired with their main rivals, the Williams Field Blackhawks. These two schools are both from the Higley Unified School District, and have had crucial games played the past couple seasons, ending up to be pivotal for region/state titles. Coming off of a down year, the Saguaro Sabercats look to improve from their 1-9 record of the previous season. The Sabercats closest region member would be the Brophy Broncos, coming off an 8-2 campaign which saw them as the number 1 seed in the 6A playoffs. This is where geography gets truly egregious, as Higley and Shadow Ridge are separated by a whopping 63 miles in land, which could be up to a 2 hour drive during rush hour. The travel will most definitely play a factor in the games played this year. Brophy appears to be the front-runner in this region. The Broncos are returning many key pieces to their offense and defense. Higley and Williams Field will be tough outs, but if the Broncos can get past them, they should have a clear path to a region title.

6A East Valley

Next up we have the most geographically aligned region out of the bunch. The region returns Highland and Red Mountain, both coming off great regular seasons and disappointing playoff runs. The Hawks and Mountain Lions both fell at home in the first round of the 6A playoffs to lower seeded opponents. Joining the previously mentioned teams will be the Desert Ridge Jaguars and Mountain View Toros. This is one of the few positive changes in the region realignments as it revives two rivalries in region play, that being between Desert Ridge and Highland as well as Mountain View and Red Mountain. The Battle for Brown Road, between the Toros and Mountain Lions, went down to the wire last year in a thrilling contest that determined the teams open division fates. Both, however, would end up missing the open in favor of 5A teams. This region is truly a toss up as to who the favorite is, as Mountain View is coming off of a 6A finals appearance and Highland and Red Mountain will be looking to reload after disappointing first round exits. The Desert Ridge Jaguars will have a tough task ahead of them to win this region, but I have seen crazier things. For now, I would say the Toros and their high powered offense are the favorites.  

6A Premier

Perhaps the most controversial split up of all is what happened to the premier region. The Chandler unified schools have been split up in favor of non geographically focused regions. The only returning members of the premier are the Chandler Wolves and the Hamilton Huskies. Joining them are Cesar Chavez, Pinnacle, and Valley Vista. The Monsoon of Valley Vista sit far away in the northwest valley, Cesar Chavez is in Laveen, Pinnacle is in North Phoenix, and Chandler and Hamilton are tucked away in the East Valley. This is one of if not the most poorly aligned regions in this session of realignment. The only paired rivals are Chandler and Hamiton, Cesar Chavez, Pinnacle, and Valley Vista sit without a team within a reasonable distance. Like I said in the introduction, the regions were designed for parity. Hamilton should be the favorite to win this one as they are returning the most production, however, Chandler and Pinnacle are no slouches. 

6A Fiesta

The Fiesta region has 2 teams returning to it which would be Westwood and Mesa. The Warriors and Jackrabbits will be paired up with two Chandler Unified schools, Basha and Perry, and a private school from Tucson, which would be Salpointe Catholic. Basha is the clear overwhelming favorite in this region, coming fresh off a title game appearance where they ultimately fell to Liberty 35-17. The region maintains the battle for Val Vista between Perry and Basha, and a key rivalry in Mesa which is between Mesa and Westwood. Salpointe is the odd one out not only in the region but in the conference being the only team in Tucson in 6A. Salpointe attempted to move down to 5A to be paired with more southern Arizona teams however their appeal request was denied and Salpointe will remain in 6A for the time being.

6A West Valley

The West Valley region features all new teams, which are Boulder Creek, Centennial, Liberty, Mountain Ridge, and O’Connor. These teams are all relatively close to each other, all being in the North of the valley. Boulder Creek, Mountain Ridge, and O’Connor are all in the Deer Valley Unified school district and all rival with each other. Centennial and Liberty are the two football powerhouses from Peoria Unified and hold a storied history of playing each other with fierce competition. Liberty will be the consensus favorite in this region as they are the two time defending state champions, however, Centennial has many young talents on their varsity team. For the time being, this region runs through Peoria. 

After looking at and breaking down all of these regions, it is clear and obvious that this change was not necessary. Teams were split apart from their rivals, split apart from their fellow school district members, and split apart from regionality. The divergence towards a 7A conference seems inevitable as the state’s top division keeps getting smaller and smaller year by year.