Alabama high school football team cancels game due to safety concerns

Alabama’s No. 1 high school football team in Class 1A will have a bye this weekend after its opponent opted to cancel the game set for Friday night between the two.

Donoho, a private school in Anniston, won’t play its scheduled contest versus undefeated Wadley due to concerns for its players’ health and safety, according to AL.com. The two Class 1A, Region 6 opponents were set to meet Friday night, but Donoho is dealing with a rash of injuries and sickness after starting the season with only 25 players.

“It was just something that troubled my spirit all weekend,” Smith told AL.com. “We have some folks out, and we are really thin anyway. We would have had to put some eighth and ninth graders in who are just physically not varsity players yet, so I made the decision out of safety concerns.”

The Falcons are off to an 0-3 start this season and have been outscored by a combined score of 123-25. According to Smith, multiple players are currently in concussion protocol, while four others — who play on both sides of the ball — were going to miss the game.

Wadley, meanwhile, has been on the other end of the spectrum to start the year. In their first three games, the Bulldogs have beaten their opponents 160-37. That includes last week’s contest where they scored a state-record 56 points in the second quarter to beat Fayetteville.

They feature one of the state’s premier players in edge rusher Jaquez Wilkes, an Auburn commit. With the forfeit victory, Wadley will now move to 4-0 and will play again on September 19. For Donoho, this is the only game that Smith plans to not have enough healthy players available and said this is the first time in 34-year career that he had to forfeit a game.

Alabama not the only state dealing with injury-related forfeits

While unfortunate for both teams, the issue of teams forfeiting games under less than ideal circumstances has come up across the country. East St. Louis (Ill.) had its game last week against Gadsden County (Fla.) after the visitors chose not to make the trip. Gadsden County informed the ESL coaching staff they wouldn’t be making the trip roughly 72 hours away from the game being played.

Gadsden County’s season was off to a rough start after Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) ruled in late-July that eight players and head coach Russell Ellington were all suspended for the 2025 season.

An interim head football coach has reportedly not been named yet, and allegedly the team only has between 20 to 25 players showing up to practices.

Programs in Iowa, Missouri, California, and Pennsylvania have canceled games — and in some case the entire season — due to a reported shortage of players.