BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The Van High School Bulldogs will return to school this fall without a football season.<\/p>\n
Head football coach Mark Agosti said the reason is because \u201cour numbers just keep getting smaller and smaller each and every year and we are at the point where it\u2019s going to be hard to sustain a football program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agosti said the decision was made because the football roster only had 13 players, which he said bring safety into question.<\/p>\n
\u201cFootball being a contact sport, kids get hurt unfortunately,\u201d Agosti said. \u201cBut with this roster that we had, a lot of these 13 were very new kids, ninth-graders or kids that\u2019s not played a lot of sports at all and I just didn\u2019t feel like it was worth risking their safety to try and make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The absence of football Friday nights will not only impact the bulldogs football team but Van High School as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt affects the referees that I have that\u2019s committed to referee the games for me, the parents, I mean,\u201d Agosti said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have football, you don\u2019t have cheerleaders. You know, it\u2019s a trickle-down affect. It affects the entire building actually, and it\u2019s not a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agosti said he\u2019s hopeful that numbers will be back up by next year and that Football Friday Nights will be back in Bulldog country.<\/p>\n
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