Some small schools struggle to field a football team

PORT EDWARDS - The Port Edwards Blackhawks were set to face Central Wisconsin Conference-10 rival Tri-County.

But Port's high school team, four games into the 2016 football season, had only 13 players.

The school, which has a senior class of 16 students, lost the Sept. 9 game 38-8. Behind the scenes, rumors began to swirl that the shortage of players might force the school to shut down its football program altogether.

It didn't happen. Five more players joined the roster, putting the team back up to 18, where it was when practice started in August. But the episode pointed to just how narrow the margin is for a small school such as Port Edwards in trying to field a team. And the school is far from the only one. Small programs throughout central Wisconsin and across the state face similar issues as rural-school enrollment has declined and, in some cases, participation in football has waned.

This weekend, as the state's top prep football programs prepare to play in semifinal matchups, most teams have ended their seasons. Entering the offseason means coaches, school administrators and players who remain face uncertainty about what the school's football program might look like next year — and in extreme cases, perhaps, whether or not it will even have one.

Plainfield's Tri-County,with an enrollment of 182,is a substantially larger school than Port Edwards, yet it had only 19 players on its roster, up from 14 earlier in the season.

"With numbers like we had, parents can be concerned for their kids' safety," Tri-County coach and athletic director Mike Vesperman said. Tri-County parents have been supportive, Vesperman said, but concerns always loom over a team with a slight roster, especially in a sport where youth players are routinely sidelined with injuries.

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And even much bigger schools with a strong football tradition are struggling with numbers. La Crosse Aquinas, a school with 305 students, in the sixth week of the season had to forfeit a game against West Salem. Aquinas won the Division 5 state title as recently as 2007.

Participation in the sport has been on the decline, according to data from the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. In 2011, 28,404 students played football; by 2014, that number had declined by more than 7 percent to 26,387. Participation ticked up to 26,925 in 2015, according to the WIAA, and 2016 figures were not yet available.

Here are four factors contributing to the difficulties and pressures some schools face as they try to field a football team:

Declining enrollment at rural schools

Former Port Edwards football player Aaron Eichsteadt, a 2010 graduate of the school, remembers teams in his football days with around 30 players.

"I'm surprised to hear that the numbers are so low," Eichsteadt said. "Football was ... something I looked forward to each fall. The long practices in August were not that fun, but there wasn't anything that beat playing on Friday night."

Port Edwards High School had 164 students during Eichsteadt's senior year, according the WIAA. Today it has 113. Rural schools across Wisconsin have seen similar declines as rural populations as a whole have trended older and sparser. With fewer students, it's no surprise there are fewer football players.

Concerns for players' safety

Football is a physical sport and players do get injured. New research and focus on the risk of concussions has created concerns among some parents about whether it's safe for their kids. Raflik and others said concern about concussions circulates among parents, especially in the last five or six years.

And at small schools, concerns about injuries are compounded as a small roster forces coaches to promote younger players to a varsity team.

"When you have to put freshmen and sophomores out there, the chances for injury go up," said Paul Michlig, Newman Catholiccoach and athletic director. "They just are not ready for varsity football. If you don't have enough players for a JV team, you're not getting your younger players developed."

The soccer factor

Football and cross country are no longer the only options for fall sports for boys at small schools. Participation in boys soccer has been growing at small- and medium-sized schools for the past decade.

In the case of Tri-County, as well as Catholic high schools Pacelli High School in Stevens Pointand Newman Catholic High School in Wausau, the football team shares its school's pool of athletically talented boys with the soccer team.

Newman Catholic has 23 players on varsity roster this year and an enrollment of 123. There are 61 boys in the school; 39 combined are out for football and soccer. The team has six seniors on the football team, playing both on offense and defense.

“We probably lose a couple kids to soccer," said John Raflik, Pacelli's AD and an assistant football coach, though he said he didn't think it was a big factor. "You’re either a football player or a soccer player usually."

Low participation begets less participation

For small schools with a long tradition of success, such as Edgar, high numbers have never been an issue.

Since 1979, the Wildcats have won six WIAA Division six championships, but this year due to declining enrollment, Edgar is competing in Division 7. The school's enrollment is 194 and the largest D7 school.

The current football roster has 53 players on the roster.

Edgar has had head coaching stability with Jerry Sinz leading the program since the 1970s.

Programs that don't have a winning tradition or have regular coaching changes also struggle to keep continuity, thus athletes are hesitant to participate in football.

Programs which have struggles for years typically have lower numbers as well. Losing seasons year after year also gives student-athletes a reason to not come out for the sport.

Possible solutions

There are two realistic solutions for smaller schools. Try to find another school to form a cooperative program or switch from 11 to eight-player football.

The WIAA sponsored reduced-player football prior to the advent of the football playoff system in 1976. There were 78 schools that fielded reduced-player squads in the late 1950s, 72 of which were eight-player teams and six that were six-player. However, that number dwindled to just a few programs by 1969.

There has been a resurgence in eight-player football, however. In 2012 the WIAA hosted the first Eight-player Jamboree at Stiehm Stadium in Weston to showcase the eight-player game. This year 21 teams are fielding reduced-player teams, but only 16 are eligible for the Jamboree.  To be included a school's enrollment must be 200 or less.

"We've looked at a lot of different things," Raflik said. "We've talked about the pros and cons of eight-player, switching conference or going independent.

"The best option is a co-op. We've talked to some some schools, Assumption, Rosholt and Wisconsin Valley Lutheran, with no luck so far. A concern with a co-op is that you lose some of your identity."

Neillsville has had a cooperative football program with Granton, which has 66 students, in the past and have resumed the arrangement. Currently, two players from Granton are on the 38-player roster.

"We had a co-op with Granton a while back and after a few years no athletes were coming over so we discontinued our arrangement with them," Neillsville AD Mark Craig said. "Now we are co-oping with Granton in football, cross country and volleyball in the fall."

Neillsville started the school year with 299 students and has dipped to 286.

"We have a two-year contract with Granton and when it ends we will evaluate if we wish to keep it going," Craig said. "If we can get a few kids to help our programs out, we'll give it a shot."

Granton has also co-oped in football in the past with both Loyal and Greenwood. The Greenwood/Granton football program won the Division 7 championship in 2011. Greenwood has since ended its cooperative effort with Granton. This season Greenwood has the smallest roster in the CloverWood with 19 players. The biggest is Loyal with 42.

Strong numbers are certainly a plus when it comes to football success, but they're not necessity.

Remember Tri-County?

Even with their early season issues with numbers, with a full roster of 22 healthy players, the Penguins this season made it to the WIAA playoffs, falling to Hilbert/Stockbridge in the first round. It was the first time Tri-County had qualified for the WIAA playoffs for the first time since 2011.

Mark Massoglia: 715-424-7309 or mark.massoglia@gannettwisconsin.com. Scott Williams and Tim Johnson contributed to this story.