Southern Valley Schools Cancel High School Football Season

OXFORD, Neb. – In a significant decision announced on Tuesday, Southern Valley Schools has canceled the rest of their 2024 high school football season due to a shortage of available players. This cancellation affects both the varsity and junior varsity teams and is effective immediately.

The Southern Valley Activities Director, Josh Lanik, mentioned that the decision was not made lightly. He emphasized the importance of player safety when stating, “For us, numbers-wise, we didn’t have enough kids available to put a safe product out on the field any further.” At the moment, the varsity team had only around 10 to 11 players in grades 9-12 who were healthy enough to compete.

Further explaining the situation, Lanik said, “Some of our varsity kids aren’t quite varsity ready yet and we’d be doing them a disservice.” He recognized that placing these inexperienced players in challenging situations would not be ideal, and therefore, the safety of the players was the top priority.

Prior to the cancellation, the football team was struggling with a record of 0-5 and ranked 6th in Class D1 District 9. They were scheduled to play against Hi-Line this Friday at 7 p.m., with additional upcoming games against North Platte St. Patrick’s on October 11 and Dundy County Stratton on October 18.

With this decision, Southern Valley Schools aim to prioritize the health and safety of their athletes while re-evaluating their football program for the future.