In a shocking announcement on Tuesday, longtime North Bay football powerhouse Novato High School said they were planning to drop their varsity program for this upcoming season, due to low turnout during summer practices.
According to the Marin Independent Journal, the school petitioned the Marin County Athletic League after less than 10 players showed up to summer practices, with 16 required to field a team. As of Thursday, however, the school has given players an ultimatum, with Principal Matt Baldwin saying that if 20-25 juniors and seniors show up to Monday’s first official practice, the Hornets will field a team.
“Since this difficult decision was made late last week there has been an overwhelming public response and support of our Novato High School Football Team,” Baldwin wrote in an email to parents late Monday night via the San Jose Mercury News. “This is something that I have always admired about our community in Novato, people are willing to come together in difficult times and rally around a common goal, this time it is for our kids.”
The idea of Novato not fielding a football team is made more significant by the fact that just 10 years ago they were in the state championship game and were North Coast Section champions from 2005 to 2007. In recent years there has been an overall downturn in interest, as has been the case with many high schools in Marin according to the San Francisco Chronicle.