A football.

There’s been plenty of talk about declining participation in high school football, but an interesting case in point of the effects that can have comes from Healdsburg High School in Sonoma County, California. Earlier this week, the school’s remaining varsity players (just 12 of them) voted to disband their team for the remainder of this season following an 0-2 start that saw them outscored 102-0.

The team started the year with 18 players, but five quit after their first two losses (41-0 to Drake and 61-0 to Justin-Siena), and a sixth left Monday, prompting head coach and athletic director Dave Stine to call for a team vote on whether they should continue. The first vote was inconclusive, but the second (held anonymously) was 7-4 in favor of ending the season. And principal Bill Halliday told Kerry Benefield of the nearby Santa Rosa Press-Democrat that the decision has led to some dejection round the school, and to some talk about parents not wanting their kids in football:

Principal Bill Halliday described the mood on campus Tuesday as one of “disappointment.”

“I’ve had a lot of conversations, a few surprised teachers, a few calls from parents,” he said.

…More parents and students are expressing concern about football’s long-term impact on their health, namely concussions, Halliday said.

“A lot of parents don’t want their kids playing football,” he said. “It’s hard to watch, but I can’t question or second-guess a parent who has concerns.”

Of course, this makes some sense; it’s awfully tough to play football with only 12 players, and a team that’s getting outscored 41-0 and 61-0 isn’t too likely to be competitive. And this isn’t necessarily something that’s going to happen exactly this way in high school football across the country. For one, Healdsburg (population of around 12,000) is one of the wealthier towns in one of the state’s wealthier counties, and for another, this comes amidst wider declining enrollment at the school. Healdsburg High had only 552 students last year, compared to 895 in 2007-08.

And varsity football may not be gone from Healdsburg High for long. The school currently has a successful junior varsity team with 30 players, and they’re likely to revive varsity football next year. But there are larger numbers of declining participation overall, and there may be more schools that decide varsity football isn’t worth it, either in particular years or overall. It will be interesting to watch how that wider story evolves going forward.

[The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat; photo from PX Here]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

1 thought on “California high school cancels varsity football midseason following player vote after 0-2 start where they were outscored 102-0

  1. Why didn’t they just promote the JV team add it to the roster of the varsity and not play JV. this would have given then up to 48 players before the others quit and up to 42 when they quit. they may not have been very good this year but they guys that played would have a huge edge for next year. This makes me wonder about the coaches and the school in general why did the number of students drop so much from 10 years ago. and why would you stack a JV roster with 30 guy and only have 18 on your varsity. I think they have bigger problems at that school.

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