High School Football: Oberlin cancels its season (UPDATED)

Friday night lights won't shine in Oberlin this fall. Oberlin City Schools announced Thursday it was canceling the 2026 high school football season due to a lack of players. While the Phoenix had 14 potential players show up during a July 29 meeting, attendance for Monday's first mandatory practice was in the single digits. "Going into the summer we felt pretty good about where our numbers would sit, but once we got into the summer the numbers were just not where we needed them to be," Oberlin athletic director Julian Acosta-Gorman said. "During our summer workouts and liftings we'd have six kids one day, eight kids the next day, maybe 10 on a good day. "It just wasn't in the cards with our numbers. We knew we had to give other districts time to replace us on their schedules and we know we can't safely put our children in a position where we have no depth and ask them to play every snap." Numbers have been a concern in the Oberlin program for years. The Phoenix canceled their game against Wellington in 2023 after injuries left them unable to field a team. The 2025 season was one of Oberlin's most successful in recent years. The team went 2-8 with back-to-back wins over Brooklyn and Toledo Woodward. The Brooklyn win snapped a 31-game losing streak that was the longest in the state at the time. The loss of nine seniors from that team plus the loss of coach Kenny Washington in the offseason proved to be too much for the Phoenix to overcome. "We've talked to every single boy in our school building and the ones who go to JVS and the ones who are CCP (College Credit Plus) students, we also recruited girls we thought might be interested," Acosta-Gorman said. "We talked to everyone we could and tried to build hype around the program." Oberlin superintendent David Hall addressed the situation in a prepared statement. "This is an incredibly difficult day for our students, families, coaches, staff, alumni, and community," Hall said. "No one wanted this outcome, but our responsibility is to make decisions that place student safety and well-being above all else. While we are disappointed that football will not be played this season, we remain committed to supporting every student affected by this decision and to strengthening athletic opportunities across our district." The cancellation doesn't just affect Oberlin. It also impacts the seven other members of the Lorain County League, who now must scramble to try to find another game with the start of the regular season less than two weeks away, and the Phoenix's three non-conference opponents — Wickliffe, Brooklyn and Toledo Woodward. "It's just tough," Keystone athletic director Jeff Holzhauer said. "It's not something that any of us wanted to see. We've been rooting for Oberlin and trying to support them." The Wildcats were scheduled to travel to Oberlin in Week 4 and now have slim hopes of finding another opponent that week. "I feel for the kids at Oberlin who want to play football and I also feel for all of the kids that have Oberlin on their schedule and now they have a gap on their schedule," Holzhauer said. Thanks to the recently passed Student Athlete Mobility Act there might be hope for student-athletes from Oberlin to suit up for another team this fall. The law, signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on July 7, allows student-athletes to petition to play a sport for a public school in a bordering district if their school does not offer the sport. Acosta-Gorman and Phoenix coach Rob Oursler will now turn their attention to making sure there will be a 2027 football season. "We have a middle school program that's up in numbers from last year, which is encouraging. We need to look at what's going on all the way down to our youth levels," Acosta-Gorman said. "We have to do work right now to better our position for June of next year. We have to hit the ground running. It's not going to be easy but we've got to keep this boat moving and make sure this is a blip and not our future." Oberlin now has to assess how this decision will affect not just the students who were hoping to play football but those involved in marching band and cheerleading. The schools that were set to host the Phoenix this fall will have to deal with the potential financial ramifications of losing one of five home dates. "It's really tough for the teams that are losing a home game. A lot of athletic programs rely on those football gates to supplement the budget," Holzhauer said. "When you only get five opportunities for that football game to supplement the cost of your athletic program, losing a home game is a big hit." Oberlin was scheduled to begin its season Aug. 21 at Wickliffe. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.