Several area schools are working to fill holes in their football schedules after Davis County Community School District announced this week the cancellation of its 2026 varsity football season due to low participation numbers and player safety concerns, leaving multiple opponents without a game on their schedule.
As Ottumwa Radio previously reported, the decision was announced Monday by Superintendent Megan Christiansen, High School Principal Tom Hallgren, Activities Director Dave Mason, and Head Football Coach Phil Lite. District officials said the decision was not made lightly but that the health and well-being of student-athletes remains the highest priority. The cancellation is also a tough situation for Lite personally, as this would have been his first season as head coach at Davis County after leaving the Ottumwa football program. The Mustangs will instead focus on rebuilding through a junior varsity-only schedule to be announced at a later date. A football parent meeting was held Tuesday evening at the high school for families to receive additional information.
Centerville
Centerville has added a Week 0 game against Creston on Friday, August 21st at home, with a curtain riser at 4:45 p.m. and varsity kickoff at 7:30 p.m. What would have been the Davis County game on September 18th will now be a bye week for the Big Reds.
Pekin and EBF
The Pekin and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont football programs have each been affected by the Davis County cancellation and will now face each other in a Week 0 game on Friday, August 21st at Pekin beginning at 7:00 p.m.
For Pekin, the originally scheduled game against Davis County on August 28th has been cancelled with no replacement game added in its place.
For EBF, the Rockets were originally set to play Davis County in Week 3 on Friday, September 11th, which will now become a bye week. The game against Pekin on August 21st will be a live game rather than a scrimmage, as it was originally scheduled.
Chariton
Chariton has added a Week 0 game against Pella Christian on Friday, August 21st at Reynolds Field in Chariton, with JV at 5:00 p.m. followed by varsity at 7:00 p.m. The Chargers thanked the Pella Christian School District, Athletic Director Dan Branderhorst, and Head Coach Rich Kacmarynski for helping make the game possible.
Pella Christian ended up being a natural fit for Chariton because Davis County and Pella Christian were district opponents this fall, meaning Pella Christian was also left without a game when Davis County cancelled its season. Chariton considered multiple opponents when searching for a replacement — and even had a team from central Illinois reach out and offer to play — before ultimately landing on Pella Christian as the best fit.
Chariton Athletic Director Tim Milledge explained why the game had to be moved to Week 0 rather than filling the open Week 2 date left by Davis County’s cancellation. “The state assigns schedules for every football team in Iowa,” Milledge said. “The only way we could replace a game in Week 2 was if another team in Iowa lost a Week 2 game, providing us with an opponent. No other team that had lost a game in Week 2 was still looking, so that date was unavailable.” As a result, the Week 2 date on September 4th will now be a bye for Chariton’s varsity team.
Milledge also noted that the scheduling change required the cancellation of Chariton’s preseason Booster Bash event and a scheduled scrimmage with Interstate 35, both of which had been planned for August 21st. The Booster Bash is expected to be rescheduled at a later date.
Other Affected Programs
Albia, PCM, and South Tama County are also among the programs affected by Davis County’s cancellation, as each had games scheduled against the Mustangs this season. Details on how those programs plan to fill their open dates have not yet been announced.
