A high school in Oregon has canceled its first two games of the 2025 football season, with hopes of salvaging its remaining schedule despite assembling, so far, a roster of only 20 players, including eight freshmen.
As reported by The Oregonian, Gladstone High School was originally scheduled to play at North Bend on Friday and at Estacada on Sept. 12. Both of those games have been canceled, and North Bend and Estacada have opted to play each other on Sept. 12 at Estacada High School.
According to Gladstone athletic director Ryan Browning, the team has faced low turnout in the opening weeks of the football season. But Gladstone is still planning on playing Sept. 19 against Molalla and all scheduled games after that, per the reporting of Nik Streng.
"Teams forfeiting part of the season due to low numbers is not uncommon in Oregon," Streng wrote, adding that at least one school has experienced truncated seasons in each of the past four seasons.
St. Mary’s (Medford) canceled the remainder of the 2024 football season after playing only six games. The Crusaders were winless and injuries had left the team with too few players to safely compete.
In 2023, Santiam decided to forfeit the final game of the season due to a lack of available players. In 2022, Corbett forfeited the final two games of its season.
At Gladstone, 15 seniors graduated from a team that went 4-6 in 2024, losing a first-round state playoff game 47-0.
