Harriton High School will not play varsity football this fall.
The Rams suspended their 2026 season after just one game, principal Stu Warshawer and athletic director Shawn Albert announced in an Aug. 31 letter to families, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The school cited low participation, player safety concerns and questions about whether the program could remain competitive and sustainable.
Harriton is one of two Montgomery County high schools to cancel football this year. Jenkintown also ended its varsity season over what the School District of Jenkintown called safety concerns tied to low participation, 6abc reported on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
The lone game Harriton played was a Friday, Aug. 28 loss to Pottstown, 53-0. The Rams were scheduled to open Central League play against Radnor on Thursday, Sept. 3. They never took the field.
The cancellation caps a long decline. Harriton went 0-9 in the Central League last season, its 10th straight winless conference season, the Inquirer reported in November 2025. Neither Harriton nor Lower Merion High School has fielded freshman or junior varsity teams in recent seasons because of dwindling rosters. Lower Merion Township has no youth tackle football program, cutting off the pipeline that feeds programs in neighboring communities like Radnor.
Rahul Mistry, a Harriton football parent, told the Inquirer in November 2025 that the situation had become untenable. "We were under-rostered. The program really isn't sustainable at this level," Mistry said.
Parents collected about 300 signatures on an online petition pushing to merge the two township high schools' football programs. The Lower Merion School District board voted in May 2026 to approve a cooperative between Harriton and Lower Merion for the 2026-27 school year. That vote reversed the district's earlier stance. Superintendent Frank Ranelli had recommended against a merger in November 2025, saying Lower Merion High should not have to "give up their team identity … and playoff chances" to solve Harriton's roster problems.
The cooperative still needs approval from the PIAA, the state's governing body for high school athletics. As of Aug. 31, that approval had not come through. Michael Barber, chairman of PIAA District 1, did not respond to the Inquirer's questions about the application's status, the Inquirer reported.
In their letter, Warshawer and Albert said the district was exploring whether a junior varsity season could continue. They also wrote that the suspension was not permanent and that the district remains committed to offering football in the future.
The PIAA's decision on the cooperative will determine whether Harriton players suit up under a combined Lower Merion Township program next fall. No timeline for that ruling has been announced.
