High School Football's Growing Participation Crisis Forces Another Iowa School to Cancel Its 2026 Season

The growing trend of high school football season cancellations added another chapter Monday as Davis County High School announced it will not field a varsity team in 2026, citing low participation numbers and concerns over player safety. The decision makes Davis County the fourth Iowa program to cancel its season this year.

The Davis County Community School District announced the decision via press release on Monday.

“The health and well-being of our student-athletes remain our highest priority, leading us to conclude that canceling the varsity season is the most responsible course of action,” the press release from Megan Christiansen, Superintendent, Tom Hallgren, high school principal, Dave Mason, activities director, and head football coach, Phil Lite, read. “We commend the dedication, hard work and resilience of our student-athletes, who have shown tremendous commitment to the team.

“We are grateful for the support of our community and are focused on strengthening our football program for future success.”

Here is the complete letter as posted on Instagram.

Junior Varsity Schedule Planned for 2026

The press release also noted that “Davis County will look to rebuild the program by playing a (junior varsity) only schedule” that will be released later this year.

A football-parent meeting is planned for Tuesday.

Christansen, Hallgren, Mason and Lite noted in the release that low participation numbers and player safety concerns were the main reason for making the decision effective immediately.

Late Cancellation Creates Scheduling Challenges

Davis County was set to be part of Class 2A, District 7 alongside Albia, Centerville, Monroe-PCM, Pella Christian and South Tama County. All of those schools, along with Chariton and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, now have open dates on the schedule. Schools will be able to work to fill those, but with such short notice, it could be difficult.

The Mustangs finished the 2025 season winless, going 0-8. They were 3-5 the year before and have not had a winning season since finishing 6-4 in 2012. Between that, they had two years where they finished at .500, and did win at least eight games each year from 2008-2012.

Young Roster Was Set to Return

Offensively, Davis County graduated all but 329 rushing yards from last season and 440 passing yards. Svend Skaggs was set to be a sophomore this year, as he rushed for 325 yards and scored two touchdowns while Noah Sizemore and Max Taylor each had three carries as sophomores last fall.

Ben Davis, Kamden Heemsbergen, Kaleb Tucker, Brayden Flockhart, Cason McCarty, Karson Smith, Carson Pickens, Victor Milder, Braxton Bragg and William Hunter were all underclassmen who made tackles on defense last season.

The 2025 roster for the Mustangs featured just four juniors, nine sophomores and nine freshmen.

Fourth Iowa Program to Cancel Season

Rockford, Exira-EHK and Siouxland Christian each previously announced that cancellation of their seasons, while Siouxland Christian did merge with Remsen St. Mary’s.

The 2026 Iowa high school football season for 2026 officially kicked off Monday, August 10 with preseason practices.

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