Sparta High School forced to cancel its football season

Citing a distinct lack of varsity players, particularly in the junior and senior classes, Sparta High School officials have made the tough decision to cancel the football season this fall, but with the intent of returning to the gridiron next year.

“Hopefully, this is just a one-year reset,” said Sparta Athletic Director Jackie Smith. “This came on us kind of late. Unfortunately, the bulk of our roster was underclassmen. We only had between 20 and 25 kids counting freshmen. And we just couldn’t compete with that. We had to do what’s best for the majority of our kids.”

Smith, now in his second year as administrator, said it was a “constant struggle” fielding a varsity team last year and there were too many occasions in which underclassmen were forced into playing time at the varsity level and sustained injuries.

“For the future of our football program, we had to prioritize the safety of our kids,” Smith said.

“You have to think about not only the players, but the cheerleaders and the band, as well as the parents and people in the community,” he said. “Our hope is that we can still play our games on Friday night this fall, but it just has to be a jayvee schedule this year.”

Even a cooperative agreement with Steeleville didn’t turn the tide.

“There weren’t any upperclassmen coming over,” Smith said.

West Frankfort was scheduled to host the Bulldogs in Week 9.

“We’re going to take the forfeit win, but go ahead and play a jayvee match on that night,” said Redbirds Athletic Director Brock Harris. “Hopefully, Sparta will have more numbers next year at the varsity level and we can play them then.”

The Pinckneyville Panthers were scheduled to play at Sparta in Week 2.

“It is what it is,” said Pinckneyville first-year Athletic Director Matt Laur. “It’s not great for the kids to miss a week of the football season, but we totally understand as we were in that same boat here a few years ago in terms of varsity numbers.”

Laur said the Panthers will accept the forfeit victory and he is presently trying to work out a jayvee game on that night, but it would be played on Friday, Sept. 1 at Pinckneyville and not Sparta.

The Bulldogs, formerly a member of the Southwest Egyptian and River-to-River Conferences, left the River-to-River two years ago to join the Illinois division of the Cahokia Conference.

League schools who will receive forfeit wins from Sparta include Carlyle, Chester, Dupo, Red Bud, and Trenton-Wesclin.