Troy will not field a varsity football team in the 2026 season.

While rumors have circulated for some time, school officials made the difficult choice to not field a varsity football team while opting to have a junior varsity squad.

Many factors led to the decision, which was announced Tuesday on the school district’s Facebook page.

Trojans head coach Justin Young spoke Wednesday morning with The Western News about the situation.

“Early on we said, ‘let’s see what happens,’” Young said. “As things progressed, we made the tough decision, but we think this is the best path forward for the program,” Young said. “The first week of practice has been a real rollercoaster. We started with 14 players, then lost two after the first practice. Then we had two more join before losing a junior and a senior. Then we lost a freshman and a senior, one kid was ineligible the first two weeks and one of the kids could only play half the season.”

That left the Trojans, who play 8-man football, with 12 players, including eight freshman, two sophomore and two seniors.

“As a person, I’m very competitive and I always want to go against the best,” Young said. “But since I’ve been the coach, we’ve dealt with low numbers and we think this is best for the kids.”

Troy athletic director Denikka Miller was able to schedule five junior varsity games for this fall.

The Trojans open the season at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5 at St. Regis. 

The next game is at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28 at Clark Fork, Idaho. That is followed by a 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5 game at home vs. Seeley. Then comes a 6 p.m. game Friday, Oct. 9 at Mission.

Troy will host homecoming and senior night Friday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. vs. Clark Fork, Idaho. 

Young said he is hopeful for 2027.

“It’s too early to say, but we’ve got freshmen and sophomores who are very disciplined and passionate about football,” Young said. “A year of getting older and stronger could make a big difference.”

The entire situation has been difficult for Young and the community.

“It’s frustrating when you have a 15-year-old with great technique and he has to go up against an 18-year-old young man who is just stronger physically and that makes all the difference in the result of a play,” Young said.

There’s been a lot of talk about a possible co-op with Libby for various sports.

Loggers athletic director Nik Rewerts said there has been discussions between both schools about co-ops in multiple sports. They already have co-ops in wrestling and soccer.

“Not combining the programs will hurt our young players, but it’s something we hope can work in the future,” Rewerts said. “We’re both having troubles with low numbers and we think it would be beneficial for everybody.”

Currently, the Loggers have 24 players on the varsity football team, a low number for a Class A team.

Rewerts said the Troy School Board voted to approve a co-op for varsity baseball this spring. The Trojans decided to field a varsity squad in 2024. They played through the 2025 season, but didn’t have enough players to field a team this year.

For Young, having a co-op isn’t a current option.

“That would be knocking a pillar out of our community,” Young said. “Without a large employer, the school is the center of our community, where many of our residents convene.”

Earlier this summer, during a discussion about a football co-op, Rewerts said players were in favor of it while parents were not. The board did not vote on it.

Stable, well-paying jobs are not in great number in Lincoln County. While the state’s unemployment rate is at 3.2%, the county’s is 5.1%, 54th out of 56 counties. 

While the county still lists 8,114 people employed, 11th overall, state numbers indicate it has 25 fewer jobs than it did in 2025.

The Trojans have struggled on the gridiron for more than two decade. Some of it can be traced to the closing of the Troy Mine in 2015 and the Stimson Lumber Mill in Libby in 2002, followed by a fire in 2010 that destroyed the facility.

Both employed several hundred people. The discovery of asbestos and its subsequent effects didn’t help either.

Troy’s last season of playing .500 football was in 2013. The Trojans moved to Class C, 8-man football, in 2017 and the hope then was they’d be more competitive.

But it hasn’t panned out. From 2017 to 2025, the Trojans have had three winless seasons and six with just one win. In those nine campaigns, the overall record is 6-71. Since 2004, Troy football teams are 38-150.

Troy’s last .500 team was in 2013 when the Trojans were 4-4. They outscored their opponents by 20 points and dropped a 24-23 heartbreaker at Eureka that would have earned them a playoff spot.