Just four weeks into their debut season playing UIL football, the Keene Chargers, in an email to their District 6-3A Division I opponents, announced they would be cancelling the remainder of their 2026 schedule and their entire 2027 varsity football schedule.

In the email, Keene AD/HFC Ethan Stepp cited a high number of injuries and a lack of available players as the reasons for the cancellation.

Stepp, in the email, also advised the rest of the district that Keene will not play a sub-varsity schedule within the district, but will look to fill the remainder of the schedule as an outlaw program, likely trying to schedule games against smaller non-UIL programs. Keene will honor all scheduled junior high games.

Keene, located just east of Cleburne in the southern part of the DFW area, has long been part of UIL athletics, but the Chargers never had a football program until 2021, when the district started football at the junior high level. The Chargers had seen slow but steady growth in the program over the past few years and played an outlaw varsity schedule in 2025.

In February, Keene was aligned into 3A Division I and placed in District 6-3A Division I with Whitney, Grandview, Mexia, Groesbeck, Palmer and West. Keene started the 2026 season with a 28-8 victory over Riesel, but the Chargers have dropped their last three games, all by 21 points or more.

Keene is the largest school in the state thus far to have entirely cancelled its 2026 varsity football season. Several smaller schools have been forced to cancel games this year due to injuries or low numbers in the program, including Dallas Gateway, Grapeland, Big Spring Pathway, Morton and Baird. Memphis, which was aligned into 2A Division II at realignment in August, cancelled its season and elected to play an outlaw six-man slate.