By Patrick Lujan
Here we go again, and the season hasn’t even started.
High school football is once again faced with participation challenges from schools, resulting in teams pulling out or forfeiting.
Just last week, the league announced that the Tiyan Titans would not be playing because of the lack of players. It was a hanging issue for a bit before the school finally made the decision. Apparently, their players rather play for other teams. The schedule had to be redone with only seven teams just one week before the start of the season.
Now, just days away from opening kickoff, the Okkodo Bulldogs called in to forfeit against the GW Geckos this Saturday afternoon. What they thought would be a roster of 30 apparently is not, or not quite prepared. Instead of a forfeit, both teams have agreed to reschedule the game to a later date. How that will fit into the calendar will be another test.
Rumor has it that the Guam High Panthers aren’t quite set to go, despite them getting the Week 1 bye because of Tiyan’s pullout.
What is going on? This is year after year after year. It wasn’t like this a generation ago.
It’s frustrating for players, teams, coaches and fans.
Just a short while ago in 2021, football was moved to the 4th Quarter because the league was waiting for a shipment of gear to arrive. Of course, it didn’t make it on island in time for the 1st Quarter.
So the league was played in the Spring of 2022 instead of the Fall of 2021. What happened? Every school had an abundance of players. Coaches had so many players, they didn’t know what to do with them. Every squad had at least 60 players to start the season.
Concrete evidence that moving football – the hardest sport to prepare for – away from the 1st Quarter is beneficial. There’s so many reasons why: students are coming off of summer, which hampers practice attendance; coaches still applying for the jobs; grades aren’t determined by the previous school year and can be worked on to make grades while in the current year; in-school recruitment by both fellow players and coaches are easier when school is in session.
What happened in 2022 when we all saw for our own eyes that the rosters were full? The league decided to go right back to 1st Quarter for football, and the same problems have existed.
More forfeits than a brown tree snake sighting.
It may be too late this season to move it, but c’mon, let’s do what’s right for the sport and the players. Move football away from 1st Quarter! 3rd Quarter would be ideal since the teams could use the Christmas Break to truly prepare, but ANY quarter is better than the 1st.
