Eisenhower High School in Illinois has decided to cancel its 2026 high school football season with just 11 days until its first game. The Panthers will not be able to field a varsity team due to a lack of players.
This unfortunate decision creates an unusual predicament for their opponents.
Any high school football team that was supposed to play against Eisenhower can either accept a free win or try to fill the void and risk a potential loss. It is completely unfair to the student-athletes.
Eisenhower High School has a sizable enrollment.
Founded in 1958, Dwight Eisenhower High School serves approximately 1,000 students in Grades 9-12. It is one of two main public high schools in Decatur, Illinois.
The Panthers compete in Division 5A of IHSA classification as members of the Central State Eight Conference. The football program is not very good.
Eisenhower finished with a winning record in only two seasons since 2004. It finished at 7-4 in 2015 and 2016. That was it. Outside of those two years, the Panthers have not finished with more than one single win in any season since 2004. They went 1-8 in each of the last five years and 0-9 in the two years prior. Not great.
Despite its enrollment of more than 800 students for the 2026-27 academic year, Eisenhower High School does not have enough players to field a varsity football team during the 2026 season. The consistent losing records likely plays a role in the lack of interest, which likely plays a role in the consistent losing records. It goes hand-in-hand. Players don’t want to play for a team that loses almost every game and a team without players does not win games.
Illinois high school football teams get a free win.
The timing of this decision is not ideal. Eisenhower was supposed to play its first game of the regular season at Mascoutah on August 21. That game is now canceled. As are the games against Mt. Zion, Rochester, U-High, Glenwood, MacArthur, Lincoln, Southeast and Lanphier.
There are less than two weeks until the start of the season. These nine teams are now down a game.
According to Carson Gourdie, they have two options. The previously scheduled opponents of Eisenhower can either accept that game as a forfeit win and not play a varsity high school football game that week or they can schedule a different opponent. If they lose to the rescheduled opponent, the result will count as a loss. They cannot get the forfeit win and play a different opponent.
That is a sticky situation.
On one hand, a high school football team might want to take the forfeit win to help its overall record instead of risking a loss. Those nine teams were likely going to beat the Panthers anyway. They just wouldn’t get to play.
On the other hand, the student-athletes who signed up to play a full high school football schedule are losing a game because of Eisenhower’s late decision to cancel. The seniors especially might want to play the extra game because they love playing football.
To cancel the entire season with less than two weeks until the first game is not fair to anyone involved.