Multiple Bay Area high schools cancel their varsity football seasons

The Friday night lights went dark early at Concord's Mt. Diablo High School this year.

The school canceled the remainder of its varsity football season this week after a string of injuries left the team with only about 16 healthy players — not enough to safely field a team.

Ten players were injured over the last four games, all losses, according to the school.

For center and defensive tackle Armanny Ayala, one of those injured players, the decision was especially difficult. Ayala injured his ankle during a game and had hoped to return once it healed.

"It's not really swollen anymore. I've been icing it everyday. During one of the plays, my ankle just got folded and I just couldn't play anymore," Ayala said.

The decision leaves Mt. Diablo's junior varsity team still playing, but many varsity players are devastated that their season is over.

"It's really sad, but I do understand the coach's perspective on everybody not trying to get hurt," Ayala said.

The team needs 11 players on offense, 11 on defense and additional players for special teams. School officials said continuing the season with so few healthy players would create an unacceptable safety risk.

Liz Mangelsdorf, a vice principal at Mt. Diablo High, said the decision is a stark change for a program that had winning records three years in a row.

"This is when we won the championship," Mangelsdorf said while pointing at a picture of the team and recalling the team's recent success.

Less than two years ago, Mt. Diablo won its first league championship since 1962. Now, school officials are trying to rebuild the program while protecting its players.

"It's not the look that we want at the school that we're having difficulty with our football team. But sometimes, you just have to make the hard decisions of what's best for the kids," Mangelsdorf said.

The school also cited the physical mismatch that can occur when a depleted roster forces younger or smaller players to compete against much larger opponents.

Mt. Diablo is not alone. At least five other schools in the region have also cancelled their varsity football seasons this year. Richmond High and John F. Kennedy High in Richmond cancelled their seasons because they did not have enough players to safely field a team.

James Lick High School in San Jose also ended its season early. Hollister High's football team was under investigation and did not have enough players, while Irvington High School in Fremont did not have enough players and was unable to hire a coach.

Dr. Adam Clark, superintendent of the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, said the shrinking pool of student-athletes is one factor.

"The pool of student-athletes is just smaller with, you know, with the specialization in sports, with the adults not allowing students to play multiple sports," Clark said.

Educators also pointed to lower birth rates, declining enrollment at some schools and health concerns surrounding football. Some parents have discouraged their children from playing because of concerns about concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

For one Mt. Diablo varsity player, the cancellation was heartbreaking.

"Fun, I love it. I played [football] since I was a kid. It's horrible [for them to cancel the season], that's why I started to cry," the player said.

Ayala said he plans to transfer to another school so he could continue playing.

"I was coming from the enrollment center to go transfer. There's no more season here. So I've got to go somewhere else," he said.

The district said seniors are now allowed to transfer and finish their football season at another school.

For Mt. Diablo, the focus has shifted to next season. School officials plan to develop the junior varsity players in hopes of building a healthier and more competitive varsity team next year.

Unlike some schools facing declining enrollment, Mt. Diablo's enrollment actually grew to about 1,400 students this year.

The football program is also coming off a difficult year. Last year, the school's new athletic field was set on fire, forcing the team to open its season away from campus.