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A Illinois high school football program announced on Wednesday that will not field a varsity team and will head into the 2026 campaign with only a junior varsity squad.
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According to a letter sent out to the community, Rock Island (IL) Alleman Catholic has officially announced plans to only field a JV football team for the 2026 season. The Pioneers went 1-8 last season and in 2024 did not play a varsity schedule, according to MaxPreps statistics. Below is the letter regarding the decision behind pausing the varsity football team for the fall:
TO THE ALLEMAN COMMUNITY
As we continue to plan for our upcoming fall season, we wanted to provide you with an update on our football program. We have made the decision to play a JV football schedule this fall instead of fielding a varsity team as planned.
Our meetings with players and families earlier this year gave us hope that our numbers would be strong enough to field a varsity team, but recent meetings and summer workouts have shown us that our numbers are still not where we would like them to be. We simply do not have the commitment from enough upperclassmen to proceed with a varsity schedule this fall.
As much as we would prefer to have our football program back at full capacity right now, the reality is, we’re still contending with the final impact of enrollment loss we experienced a few years ago.
Thankfully, Alleman’s enrollment has grown over the past several years and we’re seeing increasingly larger class sizes. While we know that students and families plans can change regarding their commitment to football, our increased enrollment over the past several years, combined with the experience of our current sophomores and juniors gives us confidence that a full varsity schedule will be a reality very soon. We also have a number of gifted athletes in our Junior Pioneer Football Program whose teams are seeing great success against other junior programs in our area, and who will soon be the future of Alleman athletics.
For questions regarding membership in the Western Big Six or another conference, we refer you to our letter in February of this year outlining our options in conference participation.
These decisions are never easy and we certainly appreciate your patience and most importantly, your support, as we chart a path forward that best serves our student athletics and honors the legacy of Alleman football.
Since the 2021 season, Alleman Catholic has had a rough time on the gridiron and compiled a 2-24 record. In the three seasons prior to 2020, the Pioneers has a respectable record of 15-15 with three straight 5-5 campaigns.
Now the team will move ahead with rebuilding the Illinois high school football program through the JV and per the letter, hopes are strong that Allemen will have a varsity team in the future.
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