Gar/Pal drops 11-man football

A small turnout followed by injuries forced Garfield/Palouse school officials last week to drop the school’s football program from an 11-man team to an 8-man team.

The Vikes opened the year with 20 players, but injuries and illness knocked out six team members, leaving GP with a short roster, primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores.

“With that many young kids having to play, it really just became a matter of safety,” said Coach Scott Thompson.

Parents met with school officials last Wednesday to discuss the drop.

“As happens in any season, stuff happens,” said Athletic Director Tim Coles. “But we as adults have to make decisions that are in the best interest of the safety of our kids.”

Thompson said most of the parents at the meeting supported the move.

“They kind of helped push this,” he said. “These parents care about all the kids on the team, and everyone understood we couldn’t go ahead with two subs on the sideline.”

The drop automatically knocks the Vikings out of any chance of post-season play, but at least keeps a GP team on the field. Under WIAA state rules, teams that opt to play in a division lower than their assigned classification cannot qualify for the playoffs.

“Well, it’s tough. I feel real bad for our seniors,” said Thompson. “But at least this gives the kids a chance to play. And it should give our young kids more experience.”

The Vikings last year moved up to the 11-man SE league after a WIAA re-classification.

Following Wedneseday’s decision, school officials hurriedly put together a short eight -man season to give the remaining players a chance to continue the season.

“You can get hurt in eight -man just as easily as you can in 11, but at least you have some players on the bench who you can sub in,” said Coles.

Thompson said the change presented some minor changes to his offensive and defensive schemes, and has put a crunch on the coaches to put together a new playbook.

“We’ve kind of had to cram here in putting this together,” he said. “But football’s football.”

The Vikings debuted their eight-man set in a 28-16 loss at St. John/Endicott Friday. The next game will be a match with Wallace Oct. 9 at Palouse.

GP has also scheduled two games with Republic, which dropped out of the NE 2B because of low numbers. Those dates will be Oct. 16 and Oct. 24. A home game is slated against Colton Nov. 6.