The CAL school board voted Monday night to share football with the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows school district. The decision was based on lack of numbers and playing experience at the varsity level.
CAL athletic director Scott Striegel says that after 15 students attended a players meeting Sunday night, a decision had to be made. “Out of those 8 freshmen, there were only one who had played football prior to this,” Striegel says. He says it was a tough decision as they had 27 kids sign up when they started and he thought then they could keep the program going.
CAL currently shares junior high sports and high school wrestling with Hampton-Dumont. Striegel says sharing high school football with Hampton-Dumont and other area schools just couldn’t be done as that would have bumped them up a class and then they would not be eligible for the playoffs.
Striegel says CAL will review the options after next season. He say he hopes they players have a good experience this year and then they will evaluate the future of the program. A decision on the logistics of sharing with CGD will be made at a later date. The CAL Cadets will join a CGD team that finished with a 6-4 record last season, including a first round playoff loss to East Sac County.
(Reporting by Mark Freie, KLMJ, Hampton)