Laveen Cactus Canyon and Bullhead City Mohave are the latest Arizona high school football programs to cancel varsity games.
Cactus Canyon canceled against Chandler. Mohave canceled against Prescott. Both games were scheduled for Friday, Oct. 2.
Adam Beadle reported the Cactus Canyon cancelation on X.
BREAKING: Cactus Canyon has forfeited its freshman and varsity games against Chandler this week, Chandler HC Ty Wisdom tells me.
— Adam Beadle (@therealbeadle) September 30, 2026
Wisdom said Chandler tried to get ahead of this possibility months ago and even agreed to play a shortened game with a running clock. @AZHSFB
Cactus Canyon coach Major Perry told The Arizona Republic that his program will still play a JV game against Chandler on Thursday, Oct. 1.
The varsity game will be counted as a forfeit.
Cactus Canyon came into this week 0-5, being outscored 269-14.
Chandler (4-1) is ranked No. 2 in 6A by MaxPreps.
Perry, in his first year the school formerly known as Cesar Chavez, said Cactus Canyon this year lost 29 players, who transferred out. He called the fallout a "multitude of issues."
Meanwhile, Prescott (5-0) picked up a forfeit win from Bullhead City Mohave this week after Mohave had to cancel its game against the Badgers, who were set to hold homecoming. Prescott is ranked No. 5 in 4A by MaxPreps. Mohave was 0-5 and outscored 293-14.
Not the way we wanted to go to 6-0 but excited to start getting ready for an excellent Coconino team. For region standing purposes the forfeit will go down as a 1-0 Badger win moving Prescott to 6-0 and 3-0 in region. pic.twitter.com/Q3BtehrIn2
— Official Prescott Football (@PrescottFB) September 29, 2026
Perry said Cactus Canyon still has 38 players on varsity but a combination of injuries and academic issues took a toll for this week. The Champions are 0-5 and ranked last in the 6A rankings by MaxPreps.
"It's a young team so we're playing a lot of underclassmen," Perry told The Republic. "But I got hit with some injuries. And we had some academic issues. It wasn't safe to have the kids play, especially with a lot of the freshmen coming up to varsity. So we had to be smart about it."
Perry said there is no plans to cancel the rest of the season. Cactus Canyon still has 6A games remaining against Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor (3-2), Phoenix Pinnacle (4-1), Chandler Hamilton (5-0) and Surprise Valley Vista (0-5).
Perry said there was frustration on Chandler's part, after the varsity cancelation.
"We talked and we had some things hashed out to give these kids an opportunity to play, so we said, 'OK, let's play Thursday (in the JV game)," Perry said.
Scottsdale Saguaro is not longer post-season eligible because it won't have enough games, after cancelling three of its first five games but is set to play Gilbert Williams Field on Friday. The Sabercats have had numerous injuries and a limited roster this season.
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don't miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cactus Canyon, Mohave cancel football games against top teams
