The Central High School Bulldogs won’t be sending players out on the field this season, as they have canceled the entire campaign days before the opener.
It’s been a troubling summer for high school football in America, with several players and coaches passing away under tragic circumstances in recent weeks.
One coach was shot and killed in Alabama just this past weekend, with his death following multiple others amid what has been a traumatizing period.
Of course, the situation at Central High is hardly as grave. Still, it has left players devastated after learning there will be zero football for them in the upcoming season, with the entire varsity football schedule wiped clean.
The school chose to forego the campaign due to a lack of participation and concern for student safety, announcing the cancellation on Friday, two weeks ahead of high school football season in Missouri.
“Central’s athletic director told the team the season was canceled due to low numbers of upperclassmen and safety concerns, though (a player) said their team has about 10 more players this year compared to last season,” Ozarks First reports.
Players told the outlet that the effects would be far-reaching, as the Bulldogs wouldn’t be the only ones affected, but the community as a whole.
“We were hurt,” varsity player Julian Baker admitted. “Our pride kind of just got stripped, you know, and I couldn’t really control my emotions that much, too.”
According to Central High captain David Bitok, athletes and parents are now working on organizing a protest to get the season back.
“It’s your own people doing it, not like a different school, it’s your school, your administrators. They took it away from you without even a choice,” Bitok said.
He claimed the news felt like a gut punch following months of hard work, given that he practiced on mornings, went to a job, and then went for a second practice in the evening for three months.
“They didn’t believe in us,” Baker lamented. “We’ve been working for months now, through November to the summer, just for them to take it from us three days before the school starts. This is really just hurtful.”
He added:
“If they wanted to take our season away from us, it could have happened maybe a month ago, two weeks ago. It did not have to happen three days before school.”
