Gainesville forfeits Friday varsity football game against Van Alstyne

Gainesville High School will not play its home varsity football game against Van Alstyne on Friday. Van Alstyne ISD announced that Gainesville forfeited because it did not have enough available players to take the field safely.

Kickoff had been set for 7 p.m. Oct. 30 in Gainesville, according to Van Alstyne ISD's official football schedule. The district's announcement pointed to player availability and safety. It did not say injuries caused the shortage.

Van Alstyne ISD said the Thursday, Oct. 29, sub-varsity games would proceed as scheduled.

The University Interscholastic League's athletic rules generally treat a canceled contracted game as a forfeit by the team that calls it off. The exception is a cancellation both schools agree to. Van Alstyne ISD described this one as a Gainesville forfeit.

Gainesville's athletics website lists the varsity's next game as a road trip to Lake Worth on Nov. 6, with a 7 p.m. kickoff. The schedule lists the matchup but does not establish whether enough players will be available to compete.

Little of the regular season remains. UIL's football calendar sets Nov. 7 as the deadline for districts to certify their standings, one day after the Lake Worth game. It allows a maximum of 10 games over 11 weeks and schedules the opening playoff round for Nov. 12-14.

Earlier this season, on Aug. 6, UIL announced that Gainesville head coach Neil Searcy would be suspended from football for one season and placed on three years of probation. The league also issued him a public reprimand and ordered additional training. The same action suspended the football program for four preseason practices and removed one scrimmage, and it put the school's athletic program on three years of probation with a public reprimand. UIL's announcement does not establish a connection between those penalties and the current player shortage.

Gainesville is not the only Texas school to see a game come off its schedule this fall. Whitney ISD's district calendar marks its Oct. 9 varsity homecoming game against Keene as canceled, along with a junior-varsity game against Keene the day before. The calendar pairs homecoming with Senior Night for the Oct. 30 game against Groesbeck.

Nationally, the number of boys playing football is rising. The National Federation of State High School Associations counted just over 1 million boys in 11-player football during the 2025-26 school year. That was a small increase over the year before and the highest count since 2016-17.

Van Alstyne's next game is Nov. 5 against Sanger. The district said Senior Night will be held at Panther Stadium, with kickoff at 7 p.m.

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