Highland, Lone Tree agree to combine in football next fall

RIVERSIDE

Highland and Lone Tree High Schools and Junior Highs will combine their football programs into one next fall.

Packed around a long conference table in one packed conference room at Highland High School on Wednesday night, Highland and Lone Tree School Board members and administrators verbally agreed to a shared, combined program in Iowa’s Class A, following a 90-minute discussion.

Both schools paused their varsity programs last fall due to low participation numbers and wound up finishing the season with junior varsity games.

The combined program returns Highland and Lone Tree, at least temporarily, to a day when the two schools played football as the Highland/Lone Tree Raiders. Tyler Hotz, the current Lone Tree Superintendent, and Alex Ogren, Lone Tree’s School Board Vice President, both played on the Raiders.

“Let’s put the HLT sticker on the helmet right now,” Highland School Board Vice President Dan Ruth said.

Highland’s new head coach, who is yet to be hired, would be the program’s head coach.

"I think what's really important for both communities to really understand is I think you have a lot of people that find it of benefit to our kids," Highland Superintendent Spencer Lueders told The News.

"I think it was positive," Lueders said. "We've had these conversations previously kind of throughout the year about a variety of sports, what could this look like? This is really the furthest that we've gotten in our conversation, which is a really positive thing."

Due to complexities surfacing from last fall’s canceled games, the varsity team will have just two home games, both of them to be played at Highland’s fooball stadium. The other six games will be on the road.

Junior varsity games are also scheduled to be played at Highland with middle school games at Lone Tree.

School officials said the combined program could result in over 40 kids being available for the varsity team.

While Lone Tree has played 8-man football schedules in recent years, Highland has played in the 11-man Class A category. The Huskies are classified in Class A for 2026 by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

The combined enrollment numbers of both schools would keep the team out of the Class A playoff system in 2026, Highland Athletics Director Jody Fink told the group.

The verbal agreement that surfaced as a result of Wednesday’s session still has to be formally approved by both boards, by Highland’s School Board on Monday at a Special Meeting and by Lone Tree’s School Board at its regular meeting next Wednesday.

"This could be a very positive thing," Lone Tree  Superintendent Tyler Hotz told The News.

Wednesday’s room included Lone Tree coaches and members of the public. Public comments were not accepted in Wednesday’s format, but Hotz said public comment would be heard next Wednesday before School Board members sign off on a 28E formal agreement.

“I definitely want to hear feedback,” Ogren said.

“To not do that is setting ourselves up for failure,” said Aaron Friederich, a Highland School Board member who was a volunteer coach last fall.

The length of the agreement is still to be decided and likely to be critical. The IHSAA will redraw classifications statewide in 2027 for a two-year term beginning in fall 2027.

“I want to know what long term looks like,” Ogren said. “What does 2027 look like?”