East Texas has numerous high school football teams that make a valid claim of playing the toughest district schedule in the state.

Districts 7-4A and 8-4A, Division 2; District 11-2A, Division 1

District 7-4A features heavyweights like Van, Pleasant Grove, and Gilmer. State-ranked Center, Athens, and defending state champion Carthage all play in neighboring District 8.

District 11-2A, Division 1, includes several teams that could make deep runs in the playoffs, including Garrison and Timpson.

READ MORE: Texas High School Football Player Scores 112 Fantasy Points

Anthony, Texas -- Gateway to Texas

Google Street View
Google Street View
loading...

Anthony, Texas, is the westernmost city in the state (no, it's not El Paso). It's also home to the Anthony Wildcats, and I believe they have the toughest district schedule in the Lone Star State.

They play in District 3-3A, Division 2.  None of the teams in this four-team district is state-ranked, and it's doubtful that any team from this district will make a deep run in the playoffs.

You see, I'm not talking about how stout the teams are in this district; it's all about the massively long district road trips that face the Wildcats. One of their district games will require enduring nearly 11 hours on a bus.

On Friday, October 10, the Wildcats will board buses and make the 305-mile drive to play the Crane Cranes.

Google Street View
Google Street View
loading...

To give you some perspective, the distance from Anthony, Texas, to Tucson, Arizona is 301 miles, or imagine the Nacogdoches Dragons driving to Jackson, Mississippi, to play a district game (313 miles).

610 miles round trip on a bus. Hopefully, it's a charter. If you're spending over 10 hours on a yellow dog school bus, I hope you bring a cushion.

Now, to be transparent, Crane will make the trip to Anthony to play on November 7, so they will also be travelling 610 miles round-trip. But when it comes to adding up the miles for each team's 3 out-of-town district games, the Wildcats will log the most miles.

  1. Anthony at Crane - 610 miles
  2. Anthony at Alpine - 480 miles
  3. Another vs Odessa Compass at Van Horn - 280 miles

Almost 1400 miles for 3 district games. That's about the same distance as travelling from Lufkin to Niagara Falls.

These Texas Schools Will Have the Longest Travel Times for District Football Games

Over 35 Texas High School district football games will require more than 6 hours of round trip travel time. The longest trip will take nearly 5 hours, one way.

Gallery Credit: Danny Merrell

 

 

More From B93