Keene High shuts down varsity football for 2026 and 2027
The short version
- Keene High is forfeiting the remainder of its 2026 varsity football season and its entire 2027 varsity schedule.
- Coach and athletic director Ethan Stepp cited injuries and a shortage of available players.
- The school canceled district sub-varsity games but will keep junior high games and may schedule non-UL opponents outside the UIL.
- 2026 was Keene's first UIL varsity football season after starting the program at junior high level in 2021.
- Texas Football reports Keene is the largest Texas school to cancel the rest of its 2026 season.
The North Texas school is forfeiting the rest of this season and all of next year's varsity games after injuries thinned its roster.
Keene High School, located east of Cleburne in the southern Dallas-Fort Worth region, is forfeiting the rest of its 2026 varsity football campaign along with every varsity game on its 2027 slate, Texas Football reported. The school informed its District 6-3A Division I rivals of the move. Athletic director and head coach Ethan Stepp pointed to widespread injuries and too few healthy players in a message announcing the cancellation.
The cuts extend beyond the varsity squad: Keene has also scrapped the remaining sub-varsity district games. Junior high contests will go ahead as planned, and the program intends to look for matchups outside the UIL, possibly with smaller non-UIL opponents.
The decision arrives in the Chargers' first season of UIL varsity play. Keene launched football in 2021 at the junior high level after fielding other UIL sports for years, ran an independent varsity schedule in 2025, and was placed in February into District 6-3A Division I with Whitney, Grandview, Mexia, Groesbeck, Palmer and West.
The season began promisingly with a 28-8 victory against Riesel, but the Chargers then dropped three straight games, each by 21 or more points. Per Texas Football, no larger Texas school has canceled the rest of its 2026 varsity season, though Dallas Gateway, Grapeland, Big Spring Pathway, Morton and Baird have all called off games this year over injuries or thin rosters. Memphis, assigned to Class 2A Division II in UIL realignment, scrapped its season entirely and will compete as an independent six-man team instead.
