NORTH RICHLAND HILLS – For the next two years, at least, the Battle of Belt Line won't take place.

Neighbors DeSoto and Cedar Hill, whose football teams have played three high-profile games the last two seasons, were split up Friday as the University Interscholastic League announced its biennial realignment.

DeSoto was assigned to District 11-5A with three Mesquite ISD schools, Tyler Lee and Tyler John Tyler. Cedar Hill was assigned to District 7-5A with six schools, including another southwest Dallas County rival, Duncanville.

"Not being in the same district with Duncanville and Cedar Hill is irritating," DeSoto athletic director Dave Meadows said. "We need to be playing them."

DeSoto has tentatively arranged a football series with Duncanville but not with Cedar Hill.

Meadows said he doesn't expect DeSoto to appeal its assignment to the East Texas district as it successfully did four years ago.

Other developments:

• Southlake Carroll's presence in a six-team District 6-5A created scheduling problems for nondistrict football. Carroll coach Hal Wasson agreed to games with Plano West, Arlington and Mesquite and must scramble to fill two slots – not an easy task for one of the state's strongest programs.

• Mesquite athletic director Steve Bragg sounded pleased that three Mesquite ISD Class 5A schools would remain in a district with the two Tyler schools.

JOHN F. RHODES / DMN

Cedar Hill and DeSoto, members of District 8-5A last season, will be in different districts next season - DeSoto in 11-5A and Cedar Hill in 7-5A.

"Travel is always an issue," Bragg said, "but truthfully, we can get to Tyler faster than we can get to some schools around the airport in rush hour."

• Highland Park was placed in District 10-4A with four schools that have been in 5A within the last two alignments: Carrollton's Newman Smith and R.L. Turner, Rockwall and Richardson Pearce.

• UIL athletic director Dr. Charles Breithaupt said realignment gets harder each time because of population shifts. This time, West Texas essentially lost District 3-5A to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The additional district cleared the way for fewer teams to compose 5A districts in the area, Breithaupt said.

• In the placement of Jesuit into District 8-5A with enrollment giants Allen and the Plano schools, Breithaupt said one consideration was to match schools that have a similar number of subvarsity teams.

"We know everybody isn't going to be happy," Breithaupt said. "We make mistakes; that's why we have an appeal process."

Schools have until Feb. 14 to appeal.