High school football classification shifts: Poudre to 4A among major Fort Collins-area changes

Times are changing (again) in Northern Colorado high school football, especially in the Fort Collins area.

The annual CHSAA two-year cycles regularly feature team movement between classifications and leagues.

Even by those standards, though, the 2024 season will mark major changes in local football.

Here are the new classes and leagues for Fort Collins-area football teams in the 2024-25 seasons:

Poudre moves down to Class 4A

The Impalas drop down to Class 4A this year, the first time since the school opened 60 years ago that Poudre won't compete at the highest classification of Colorado high school football.

It's also the first time that the Impalas won't be in a league with any of their other Fort Collins city rivals.

Here are the teams in Poudre's new football league:

Class 4A Northern 1 conference:

• Poudre (down from 5A)
• Frederick (up from 3A)
• Greeley West
• Loveland
• Monarch
• Silver Creek

Windsor and Timnath are now conference rivals

Windsor will move down to Class 3A for football after more than a decade in the 4A ranks. The Wizards were 4A champions in 2015 and 3A champs in 2011.

Timnath moves up to Class 3A after spending the program's first two seasons in Class 2A.

Now, one of the area's oldest and newest schools will play against each other in the same conference.

Here are the teams in Timnath and Windsor's new football league:

Class 3A Northern 2 conference:

• Timnath (up from 2A)
• Windsor (down from 4A)
• Greeley Central (down from 4A)
• Mead
• Niwot
• Northridge

Fort Collins schools get new Front Range League foes

Three of the four Fort Collins city football programs will remain together, but they'll have some new Front Range League conference foes.

Poudre is dropping down to 4A, while Boulder joins a different 5A conference, opening up two spots.

Here are the teams in Fort Collins, Fossil Ridge and Rocky Mountain's newly constructed league:

Class 5A Front Range North conference:

• Fort Collins
• Fossil Ridge
• Rocky Mountain
• Brighton
• Fairview
• Prairie View

Wellington also has a new league

The Eagles will remain in Class 2A, but their league just got much more difficult on paper.

Wellington went 9-0 last year during the regular season in a conference that included Valley, Prospect Ridge Academy, D'Evelyn, Platte Valley and Bennett.

They'll trade most of those out, swapping in several strong Northern Colorado programs.

Here are the teams in Wellington's new football league:

Class 2A North Conference:

• Wellington
• Berthoud
• Eaton
• Resurrection Christian (down from 3A)
• University
• Valley

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: High school football classification shifts: Poudre to 4A among major Fort Collins-area changes