Des Moines Hoover cancels football

The Huskies abruptly announced they'll take a pause on 2025

Numbers are a key factor in the success of any Iowa high school football program.

Ask any coach. If his sideline has very few players compared to opponents, he’s already facing a losing game.

Teams with low numbers have difficulty putting together practices. When it’s game night, they have to put younger, less experienced and undersized athletes on the field. More and more athletes have to play both sides of the ball. That could result in injuries and players quitting.

Des Moines Hoover announced last week that the varsity football program has been shelved for the 2025 season, citing low numbers and other factors.

It’s an unpleasant situation for the players who wanted to suit up for the Huskies. The players who still want to play football will be given an opportunity to join Des Moines Roosevelt’s program.

While it’s not uncommon for Iowa high school teams to drop football — even in midseason when injuries set in — it’s unusual for a team in the state’s biggest city to do so. The school opened in 1967 and football, win or lose, has always been a part of the activities program.

The most recent comparison of a larger school dropping football came in 2022, when Perry, a Class 3A school, ended its season early due to a lack of players.

There was, perhaps, a timeliness to Hoover’s administrative decision. The Iowa High School Athletic Association, which oversees boys’ sports, recently announced classifications for football. They’re the enrollment figures that determine where the 329 teams are assigned, from Class 5A (classified as 801 students and up) to A (105 at Highland of Riverside). There are 69 schools that participate in 8-player football, a version that has saved many a program from dropping the sport.