Village Christian cancels 2019 football season
By Patrick Obley
Staff writer
Posted at 12:06 PM
Village Christian Academy has canceled its 2019 football season due to a lack of numbers in the wake of the school’s punishment for offering impermissible benefits to players during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
This past March, the school was placed on probation for the 2020-21 school year and had to forfeit its wins from the 2017 and 2018 seasons, which included a 2018 state championship. The school also was fined an undisclosed amount after it was determined several players from the Triangle area were offered free tuition and daily rides to attend the school in a shuttle driven by former football coach Emerson Martin.
The school cut ties with Martin in March.
“Canceling the season was never what we wanted,” athletics director Harold Morrison said. “We definitely did not want to cancel football but it became a numbers issue, more than anything.”
The school leadership voted unanimously during the spring to continue the program. Morrison said the unsuccessful search for Martin’s replacement and a lack of attendance for offseason workouts were troubling enough that by the end of June, he called a parents’ meeting to discuss the issue.
The Knights had 30 varsity players during the 2018 season. Of that group, 12 were seniors. Another 8-10 players — including Martin’s three sons — left the program when Martin was dismissed. A school-wide email to drum up interest in team workouts during the second week of July failed to produce new recruits. The numbers attending workouts that week were determined too low to safely proceed.
“We just didn’t have enough boys to do it,” Morrison said. “We ended up not having enough boys to field a varsity and junior varsity, then we ended up not having enough to do the one team, either.”
Village Christian won eight games and reached the state championship in 2017 before going 11-1 and winning it all in 2018. Morrison notified the schools on this season’s schedule of the decision earlier this month. Most have found other opponents. Lakewood, a Class 1A public school, was to be Village Christian’s home and season opener on Aug. 23. To date, the Leopards have not been able to find a replacement.
“We’ll take a year off, kind of a hard-reset and re-evaluate,” Morrison added. “We’d love to do this next year and put an 11-man team out there and if not, we’ve looked into the possibility of eight-man football.”
By Patrick Obley
Staff writer
Posted at 12:06 PM
Village Christian Academy has canceled its 2019 football season due to a lack of numbers in the wake of the school’s punishment for offering impermissible benefits to players during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
This past March, the school was placed on probation for the 2020-21 school year and had to forfeit its wins from the 2017 and 2018 seasons, which included a 2018 state championship. The school also was fined an undisclosed amount after it was determined several players from the Triangle area were offered free tuition and daily rides to attend the school in a shuttle driven by former football coach Emerson Martin.
The school cut ties with Martin in March.
“Canceling the season was never what we wanted,” athletics director Harold Morrison said. “We definitely did not want to cancel football but it became a numbers issue, more than anything.”
The school leadership voted unanimously during the spring to continue the program. Morrison said the unsuccessful search for Martin’s replacement and a lack of attendance for offseason workouts were troubling enough that by the end of June, he called a parents’ meeting to discuss the issue.
The Knights had 30 varsity players during the 2018 season. Of that group, 12 were seniors. Another 8-10 players — including Martin’s three sons — left the program when Martin was dismissed. A school-wide email to drum up interest in team workouts during the second week of July failed to produce new recruits. The numbers attending workouts that week were determined too low to safely proceed.
“We just didn’t have enough boys to do it,” Morrison said. “We ended up not having enough boys to field a varsity and junior varsity, then we ended up not having enough to do the one team, either.”
Village Christian won eight games and reached the state championship in 2017 before going 11-1 and winning it all in 2018. Morrison notified the schools on this season’s schedule of the decision earlier this month. Most have found other opponents. Lakewood, a Class 1A public school, was to be Village Christian’s home and season opener on Aug. 23. To date, the Leopards have not been able to find a replacement.
“We’ll take a year off, kind of a hard-reset and re-evaluate,” Morrison added. “We’d love to do this next year and put an 11-man team out there and if not, we’ve looked into the possibility of eight-man football.”
