Stritch cancels football season for third time in the past five years

School president Bill Berry announced on July 28 that Cardinal Stritch, which transitioned to eight-man football to start the 2025 season, will not have a fall season for the third time in five years. The team was slated to begin its season under the direction of Justin Barrett.

“After careful consideration and extensive discussions with families, coaches, student-athletes and prospective new student participants, we regret to inform you that the 2026 Cardinal Stritch High School 8-Man Football season has been canceled due to insufficient student participation and the lack of parent/family volunteers to support the program’s needs, both pre-season and in-season,” Berry said in the statement.

The Press learned that at least one Stritch student will compete in football at Lake High School in the fall. The volleyball program also lost at least two student-athletes to area schools, as well, with that program facing low participation numbers.

Kelly O’Laughlin, a school representative in the marking and communications department, said the school will make a decision regarding volleyball on Monday, Aug. 3.

“We are going through the same process as we have with our other sport programs,” O’Laughlin said. “We are currently working with and discussing this with our female students in grades 9-12 and their families and coaches to ensure interest. We will be making a decision on Monday.”

Last year, the Cardinals went 0-10 overall with a 13-player roster, including an 0-8 record in the Northern 8 Conference, which is an eight-man league they joined before the season. It was created in October 2019 when Stryker High School and Toledo Christian Schools agreed to form the league for OHSAA schools to commit to eight-man football. Eight-man football shares the same rules, procedures and structure as the traditional 11-man game, with minor differences.

In July 2024, Stritch canceled its fall season for the second time in three years because of low participation numbers. Berry said they had enough interest, but it came too late to assemble a schedule. The Cardinals, which also canceled their season in 2022, went 5-4 and qualified for the Division VI playoffs in 2021 before finishing 2-8 in 2023 under the direction of Al Thompson. At the time, their schedule included three TAAC schools, but they weren’t eligible to compete for a TAAC championship.

Prior to the trouble in recent years, Stritch has competed in football since 1963. They played in the Toledo City League from 1971 until the early 1980s. The Cardinals won the City League’s Blue Division title in 1972, falling to Scott 13-6 in the City League’s Shoe Bowl title game inside the Glass Bowl.

The Cardinals left the City League to join the TAAC in 1995. Aside from 2021, they made the state playoffs in 2020, 2006, 1999 and 1975. The 1975 team advanced to the Class AA state semifinals before falling to Cleveland Holy Name.

Aside from Stritch and Stryker, the teams in the Northern 8 conference include: Sandusky St. Mary CC, Chalker, Holgate, Fremont SJCC, Danbury and Sebring McKinley.

Anyone with questions about the cancellation can contact Berry at wberry@cardinalstritch.org.