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The Cougars took their first and only win of the season — officially 1-0 in the record books.

Greg Mays, author of the Nebraska high school sports history newsletter Suiting Up Varsity, said he researched the factors determining success in activities.

“Schools with high free and reduced lunch kids — in other words, lots of poverty — were not going to have the kind of success as schools that didn’t have a lot of those kids,” Mays said.

About 86% of students in Walthill, which is located on the Omaha Reservation, qualify for free or reduced lunch. That’s well above the statewide average of 52%, according to Nebraska Department of Education data.

Walthill, a Class D2 program, forfeited four games this season and finished 0-8. Officials from the school district declined to comment.

One school administrator agreed that economic challenges make participation a challenge.

Earlier this month in Class C2, Tekamah-Herman forfeited its game with Archbishop Bergan because of low participation numbers and injuries.

Tekamah-Herman superintendent Brad Kjar said schools with more “demographic challenges” have more hurdles to success.

“I do think a variety of demographic factors come into play, in terms of participation rates,” Kjar said, “when you start looking at things like socio-economically challenged students, or English language learners, special education students.”

With a 35% free or reduced lunch rate, that’s unlikely the biggest hurdle at his school.

Tekamah-Herman officials have publicly considered a move down to Class D1.

“We have considered opting down to eight-man football with our roster size currently at 23,” Kjar said. “The average D1 roster size is 26, and so we’re actually beneath that average D1 roster.”

Overall, the participation rate for football “is probably below average” at Tekamah-Herman, Kjar said.

But still, Mays said economics of a school should be a factor in classification.

“If we considered those things, we’d have better classifications,” Mays said. “And in football, we need to do better classifications.”

Economic inequality in sports will likely continue with club sports in the U.S. expanding, he said.

“You see a lot of youth sports programs that are really just designed to get money from parents, for them to buy opportunities that their kids get and other kids don’t get,” Mays said.

Walthill and Tekamah-Herman are far from alone in the participation problem.

Each week, schools from eight-man to Class A cancel games, usually citing health and safety concerns stemming from a lack of available players.

As of Oct. 20, here are the number of forfeited games this season by class, according to the NSAA’s schedules:

  • Class A: 3* (3 schools)
  • Class B: 0
  • Class C1: 0
  • Class C2: 8 (2 schools)
  • Class D1: 0
  • Class D2: 8 (4 schools)
  • Class D6 (six-man): 8 (3 schools)

*This number includes Millard South’s forfeit to a Nevada high school for using an ineligible player.

One prominent scheduling dissolution happened before the season even kicked off.

In August, Oakland-Craig Senior High, which won the 2019 Class C2 state championship, announced it would not field a varsity football team for the upcoming season. Heading into the school year, the Knights had appeared in the playoffs for 17 consecutive seasons, dating back to 2008.

Many people wondered why the storied program had to cancel, Mays said.

“Can’t they just do an emergency co-op with somebody nearby?” Mays said. “We don’t allow that anymore, because, honestly, I think we fear that people would do it for competitive reasons, instead of football survival reasons.”

Oakland-Craig officials declined an interview request for this story.

Schedules are set two years in advance, and the cooperative deadline is Nov. 1 for the next two-year scheduling period, Nebraska School Activities Association assistant director of football Nate Neuhaus said.

“We are on a scheduling timeline where we collect enrollment numbers, declarations, co-ops, so that we can post classifications and district assignments in December,” Neuhaus said.

By January, the NSAA will set the new schedules through 2027.

Predicting which class will suit a school that far in advance is difficult, especially for smaller schools, Mays said.

“They set those deadlines so far in advance that you’re guessing,” Mays said. “It’s hard to figure out what a sophomore is going to do, when you’re deciding (which class to join), when he’s only an eighth grader.”

Injuries and players transferring can make matters worse for the smallest 11-man schools, Mays said.

Football is the only sport where the NSAA sets the schedules, rather than school administrators, Neuhaus said. That decision, approved and celebrated by the schools several years ago, started when schools had a difficult time filling up schedules on their own, Mays said.

Another small school struggling to compete, despite a rich tradition, is David City Aquinas. The program is fifth in the state with eight state championships all-time.

As the head coach for 46 years, Ron Mimick has led the Monarchs to seven of those titles. One of the smallest 11-man schools, “we’ve lost basically about a third of our enrollment in 25 years,” Mimick said. And the football program has been affected, with a 0-8 record this season.

The rate of participation is steady at Aquinas, Mimick said, but fewer students are applying to the parochial school, compounded by population loss and increasing tuition. Schools in western Nebraska likely deal with even sharper enrollment declines, Mimick said, noting that David City is about 50 minutes from Omaha and Lincoln.

Now the perennial Class C2 powerhouse is likely going to drop down to eight-man football.

“I think when we go to eight-man, we’ll probably attract another two or three boys to come out,” Mimick said.

Creating fun youth programs, combined with strong parental support, will improve the participation across the state, the longtime coach said.

Participation numbers

With overall participation dropping for football, Neuhaus said, “kids have other opportunities. Participating in sports isn’t always the number one priority anymore.”

Several coaches and administrators agreed with Neuhaus, saying video games and social media distracts from school activities.

In a slightly different view, Mays said kids also have more school activities to choose from than ever before.

“We’re offering more and more activities in these schools,” Mays said, “and the fact that that spreads kids thinner is a good problem.”

As an English teacher at Hastings High School, Mays said students who participate in activities do better in school.

With more options for students inside and outside of school, mixed with increasing awareness of the long-term impact of concussions from football, fewer kids are giving the sport a try.

Though football cancellations are not tracked by the NSAA, the organization collected participation data for the last two decades.

The number of high schoolers playing eight-man football has remained level dating back to the early 2000s. But nearly 3,000 fewer kids are playing 11-man football at Nebraska high schools in the last 20 years.

Neuhaus said the trend is easy to explain.

“Many times in the state of Nebraska, you might see participation numbers in eight-man go up,” Neuhaus said. “Well, that’s because there’s not more kids going out for eight-man, but schools are changing from 11-(man) to eight-man.”

Many teams are dropping down a class, not just due to declining enrollment, but to sustain their programs.

A total of 13 teams elected to play down a class ahead of the previous scheduling period, including in six-man. That means those teams were not eligible for the postseason last year, and eight of those teams are still not eligible this year.

In some cases, schools are not deterred by postseason penalties.

Any program that has canceled a regular season game won’t be allowed to compete in the playoffs, Neuhaus said. Even though it was in playoff contention, Lincoln High School forfeited its contest with juggernaut Millard South earlier this month, citing health and safety concerns.

Millard South, which is ranked No. 1 in the state, has a 37% free or reduced lunch rate. The Links have a 66% rate.

Lincoln Public Schools officials declined an interview request about Lincoln High’s forfeit.

A postseason ban is not the only attempted roadblock to forfeits. The NSAA also requires an away team to pay the home school $1,000 for lost revenue, if the traveling team forfeits, Neuhaus said.

But, scheduling changes are in the works.

Under a new proposal recently approved by member schools, Class A will drop district assignments. Those previously determined who a school would primarily compete against in a two-year period.

“At the Class A level, the districts were determined based upon your previous two-year average wild card points,” Neuhaus said.

That created some uneven contests where the top team in the district might be a lot better than the last-place team, he added.

Class B will be adding a new, so-called “emerging district,” Neuhaus said. That’s where the bottom teams from the previous two-year cycle will compete for one playoff spot, in hopes of making the regular season more competitive.

No new proposals addressing scheduling, participation or cancellations are on the table at this time.

The NSAA doesn’t vote on rules and proposals. Those decisions are written and voted on by school administrators.

Creating a one-size-fits-all solution to fixing cancellations is impossible, Neuhaus said, because each community has unique challenges.

“There’s been forfeits for years upon years upon years. I can’t make anybody play. We can’t make anybody play, unfortunately. But we can certainly assist with the classification process and assist schools in making good decisions that they’re playing at the appropriate level for their participation numbers or their program level,” Neuhaus said. “But to think that we’re ever going to completely prevent forfeits, that’s a long shot.”

The state wrote the NSAA constitution nearly 100 years ago, Mays said, suggesting it could be time to update that guiding document.

Homecoming king without a chance to play

Coy Wickersham’s mom, Kerry, said her twin sons have played football since the third grade.

“Neither one of my boys will probably go to college and play football, so they know this is the end for them,” Kerry Wickersham said. “They love the sport, so every game day they’re pretty hyped up and excited to go play.”

Parents need to encourage their kids to compete, even when it’s difficult, she said.

“I hope all parents, whether it’s Verdigre-Niobrara or any town, understand that it’s important to support your kids, support the schools, support everything that they’re doing,” Kerry Wickersham said. “Even if you’re able to play with the second string, it’s still important to show up.”