Here we go. Another Northern VA news article that's all too happy to report the demise of HS Football!!! Y'all Liberal shitheads believe everything your biased papers write. Now the parents will keep their kids from playing football!!!
Here's the reality.. In other parts of the world, we love football!!! Oscar Smith opened their Fall training camp with over 100 kids?!! AND they don't play Freshman Football in the 757!!!
High school football participation continues to decrease
Dave Fawcett 6 hrs ago
football generic.jpg
Bill Kamenjar/InsideNoVa.com
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
SMS
Email
Save
As the high school football season returns to its normal schedule this fall, a drop off in turnout remains an issue.
Only three of Prince William County’s 12 returning Class 6 high schools will field programs at all three levels (freshman, junior varsity and varsity) this season: Battlefield, Woodbridge and Hylton.
Gainesville, Prince William County’s new Class 6 high school, is slated to only have freshman and junior varsity teams since there is no senior class this school year.
In addition, three local schools will just have varsity teams for the second straight season: Unity Reed, Osbourn (city of Manassas) and Manassas Park.
Over the years, changing demographics, single-sport specialization and safety concerns have contributed to declining interest in high school football. A number of area schools have not fielded freshman teams for years.
But the pandemic added to the gradual downturn.
For a number of reasons, the biggest decline is at the freshman level, where the lack of interest is a carryover from the previous school year.
There were no middle school sports in 2020-21. COVID concerns kept numbers down as well. In addition, the seven-team Cardinal District cancelled all freshman sports, while only three schools in the six-team Cedar Run District had freshman teams.
With so many kids out of school and learning virtually and a short turnaround between football seasons, the pandemic also made it hard for high school coaches to promote their programs to incoming freshmen.
The pandemic pushed the 2020 season to the spring of 2021 and featured only six regular-season games as part of a compressed schedule to give sports from all three seasons a chance to compete.
Of the 11 local schools without freshman football this season, the biggest surprise is Patriot. A perennial playoff contender with seven postseason appearances in nine seasons, the Nokesville-based school had produced a freshman team since it opened in 2011.
The opening of Gainesville High School cut into Patriot’s enrollment by 455 students. At 2,795 students, Patriot was Prince William County’s third largest high school last school year. The 10th year school enters this fall with an enrollment of 2,340 students.
In 2019, Sean Finnerty’s first year as head coach, Patriot posted roster numbers in the 90s. This season, the Pioneers are at 70 total grades ninth through 12th.
Finnerty expected to see a decline, but not enough to prevent Patriot from having a team at each level since the school still has a large student body.
Finnerty said the Pioneers have 25 freshmen, which were enough bodies for a team. But two challenges remained. Patriot did not have enough freshmen to play all the necessary positions.
A small sophomore turnout also meant the Pioneers needed extra freshmen to fill out the junior varsity team. Given the choice between having a freshman or junior varsity program, Finnerty opted for the latter by moving all the freshmen to junior varsity.
Osbourn has 60 players, but did not have enough players at certain positions or had players lacking overall football experience. For safety reasons and to preserve depth in case of injuries, head coach Cortez Whiting did not want to stretch his players across more than one level at this point.
Coaches are hopeful the lower turnout is tied to lingering effects of the pandemic and will rebound in time. But for now, they are taking a wait-and-see approach, understanding that current numbers might stay the same or fall even further next season.
“We’re still in post-COVID,” Finnerty said. “Things are changing. The good thing is that you only have to put 11 on the field at one time. We will do the best we can.”
In volleyball, eight of Prince William County’s 13 high schools will have freshman, junior varsity and varsity squads. Freedom is the only school without a varsity team. The Eagles will compete on junior varsity. Manassas Park and Osbourn will compete in varsity and junior varsity volleyball.
For field hockey, which fields just junior varsity and varsity teams, four of the county’s 12 Class 6 schools have both. Class 3 Brentsville and Manassas Park have never had field hockey nor has Class 6 Freedom.
David Fawcett is the sports editor for InsideNoVa.com. Reach him at
dfawcett@insidenova.com