St. Cloud Apollo, Tech Football Programs Would Merge Under District Recommendation

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud Area School District’s two high school football programs would merge into one under a recommendation district administrators will bring to the school board this week.

District 742 says its administration will ask the Board of Education to combine the Apollo and Tech programs beginning with the 2027-28 school year. The board meets Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. at the district administrative office.

The district says the recommendation follows years of declining participation, despite efforts by coaches and staff to recruit students and build youth programming. Administrators determined current and projected numbers are not enough to sustain separate varsity, junior varsity and C-squad teams at both schools while keeping every athlete in a safe and age-appropriate level of play.

Football would join a long list. The board created the St. Cloud Crush co-op brand in July 2021, when it merged five Apollo and Tech programs and rebranded six existing joint teams. The district has added more nearly every year since, including girls soccer, boys swimming and diving and boys volleyball in the 2025-26 school year. Roughly 20 sports now compete as the Crush, and football is one of the last major programs still fielding separate teams.

Apollo and Tech would remain separate schools with their own traditions. Only the football teams would combine.

Combined enrollment would place the Crush in Class 5A. The district plans to petition the Minnesota State High School League to compete in 4A instead. Tech moved to 4A after petitioning down from 5A in the spring of 2025, citing low turnout and the share of its students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. Apollo plays in 3A for the same reason.

The timeline is tight because the league moved up its classification process. Football classes and sections for the 2027-29 cycle will be set at a league meeting in late November, and the petition deadline falls this month.

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