After two more injured players during Friday night’s game against Harlan, captains, coaches, and administration got together to talk about whether or not the game against DCG this Friday should be held.

The decision to play the scheduled game was reached during a meeting Monday, Sept. 28, when Coach Waldstein, athletic director Matt Alexander, and principal Heather McKay met with team captains to discuss the safety of players given our limited numbers.

According to Waldstein, the team started the season out with 49 players. After 8 quit, and 9 got injured the team was left with 32. This low number means that several inexperienced players will be stepping out on the varsity field on Friday night.

Administrators turned to team captains Brendan Holmes, Kyle Nelson, and Drake Roller, and 2nd year head coach to weigh the pros and cons of forfeiting.

Junior Captain Roller said, “I was one of the people that wanted to forfeit. I think there are some [players] that aren’t mentally and physically ready to play a varsity game against that big of a team.”

Senior Captain Holmes said, “The community is afraid of our safety because of the number of players. There were a lot of people just scared for us to go out there Friday night.”

Alexander said he looked into the safety issue, and looked at where the players were going to be placed. He said, “I made sure everyone does their job keeping themselves as safe as possible, by hitting and tackling correctly.”

Waldstein said the current situation of the football program is based on “bad luck.” “I’ve been around football in some way for 28 years, and this is the most team injuries I’ve ever seen in one season,” said Waldstein.

When it came to making the final decision, Waldstein said that he didn’t want to forfeit because he feels it hasn’t gotten to the point where our team won’t be safe.

Alexander based his support of the captains decision on how willing they were to work with the younger players during practice.

Roller said, “I think they all have huge hearts, and I know they’re willing to play. I just don’t think they are mentally ready for going against those huge DCG players.”

Holmes said, “A part of me is nervous for them, but I think they’ll do fine. They go against our varsity players everyday at practice. If there are any underclassmen that worried about playing varsity then they shouldn’t be out for football.”

Chase Mullinex, one of the new, freshman starters due to the injuries said, “It feels like we would be better off forfeiting because there are so many young guys out there. Us going from JV contact to varsity is a bigger step, and it’s going to be a lot harder. I am more then willing to play, and I do want to play on Friday.”

Mullinex also said that on the other side of things forfeiting is a bad idea, because of all the talk already about the football team. “I don’t want our team to have a bad name, and there is already a lot of talk about the coach. I didn’t want to have a forfeit to talk about too.”

Alexander said, “The captains said they didn’t want to forfeit the game because they felt like they’d give those people out there, talking bad about the team, more fuel to say what they’ve been saying, and I’m proud of them for that. We are going to do everything we can to beat DCG and that’s why we are still out here.”

Roller said, “No matter what, I am excited to get out there and play the game I love with my team Friday night. I just hope it all works out for the best.”

Holmes said, “If we stop the game because someone else gets hurt it’ll just look bad for the team. I will not walk off that field Friday night until the clock hits zero.”

Roller said that second string players will already be in the game, so if anybody else gets hurt the team is too small there won’t be a third string to go in.

“These guys have worked too hard these past 4 months to just quit. That’s not what we are about. We play with too much heart and too much commitment to just give up. They’re a family, blood, sweat, and tears at every practice, at every game, and every morning in the weight room. They play their hearts out for each other on the field, we were not about to give up,” said Waldstein.