This hasn’t been a good week for the Western Plains High School football team, of which I am the head coach.
We have lost our first three games, and last Friday the first round of eligibility came into play.
Too many of my 14 student athletes didn’t have their grades high enough, leaving us without enough to play our scheduled home game this coming Friday when you factor in our injuries.
So we had to forfeit this coming Friday’s game.
This is the first time I have ever forfeited a game in my life.
Eligibility will be ran again Friday morning, so I am hopeful we will be able to play next week’s game.
From here on out, though, our playing will be determined on a week-to-week basis based upon eligibility.
Some might think forfeiting this one game means we are done for good, but I vehemently disagree.
I am not giving up on our season, and as far as I know, the boys aren’t throwing in the towel yet either. We will play again. We will play several more times this season. We are not finished. We’re going to finish the season.
This week during practice, just as I promised the boys at the beginning of the season, those who are ineligible have been doing extra running. I’m hoping they don’t enjoy it and never want to be ineligible again, which means they will work harder in the classroom.
Having to forfeit for the first time ever has been a very frustrating experience for me. I’ve been angry, but I’m confident everything will turn around and the Bobcats will be just fine.
