UPDATE (9/7): Runge ISD released a statement late Wednesday night announcing that the Yellowjackets would move to six-man football immediately.

The district's board of trustees voted 4-3 to switch to six-man football, stating that the coaches would attempt to put together a schedule for the remainder of the season. This had be a consideration for the school for at least a year, but the district opted to move forward with one more 11-man season in 2023. Such a move is rare but not unprecedented — so-called "outlaw" schedules occur when programs switch between 11-man and six-man football during the course of a two-year UIL alignment cycle.

Read the press release here.

———

Original story (9/6)

The 2023 Texas high school football season may have started with more than 1,500 teams two weeks ago, but one fewer will finish it.

The Runge Yellowjackets have canceled the remainder of their 2023 season, as reported by Carl Padilla of The Padilla Poll. The Yellowjackets' scheduled opponents — including their District 14-2A Division II foes — will receive a forfeit victory.

With an enrollment of just 70 students in small town located about 60 miles southeast of San Antonio, Runge is one of the smallest schools in Texas playing 11-man football, well below the threshold to be eligible to play six-man football — coach Matt Wright told Dave Campbell's Texas Football in the offseason that he expected to play the season with 13 varsity players. The Yellowjackets had forfeited their first two games of the season following a district-wide closure due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Runge went 1-9 in 2022, and have just one winning campaign in the last nine seasons.