Harker cancelled the homecoming football game for the first time in school history, citing safety risks of playing with a short roster. They will instead hold a varsity girls volleyball match against Branham High School on Davis field on Oct. 4.

With only 12 players on the roster currently, the varsity football team does not have the capacity for such a high-profile 8-man game, according to Athletic Director Dan Molin. He noted that players would have to cover both offense and defense for the entire game without rest, increasing the risk of injuries.

“The numbers are constantly fluctuating, and going into homecoming with that fluctuating number is not a safe situation,” Molin said. “We made the decision to not put the pressure on kids to stay in the game injured. Putting kids in the pressure situation to stay in the game in front of 1500 people is not a wise situation for anyone.”

For the players, the cancellation meant losing a longstanding homecoming tradition. The game typically draws the largest audience of the year, creating a spotlight for the football team. 

“We were initially devastated, since homecoming is the biggest game that we look forward to playing,” Co-captain Pedro Castro III (11) said. “We don’t normally get many supporters for our regular games, so games like that where not only are the stands full, but they’re having to build even more stands to accommodate more fans, hearing that it got canceled really hurt us.”

Head Coach Danny Reidenbach (‘17), who was an assistant coach last season and played on the varsity football team as a student, regretted that the program was not able to recruit enough members to keep the homecoming game alive.  

“Homecoming was the moment where the whole school rallied behind you in the game because the majority of the time people aren’t coming out for football but for homecoming, people do,” Reidenbach said. “As an alumnus, seeing it removed, feeling that I played a role in not protecting my players and not allowing them to experience homecoming is crushing.”

Co-captain Jackson Powell (12) expressed frustration with the lack of clarity around how the decision was made. The team was told that 12 players would be enough to save the game, but they learned later that safety was still an issue.

“I think that there was poor communication,” Jackson said. “There was no deadline for having a certain number of players. There was no explanation for why it was that certain number of players. We really didn’t know anything other than what we’ve always known, which is we have a small team. To us, it seemed like we were in the same circumstance that we’ve been in for the past 4 years.”

According to Molin, the team’s scheduled opponent, Cornerstone Christian School, carried a roster of about 30 players. Molin noted that facing a much larger team would have magnified injury risk late in the game and that finding a similarly-sized opponent available to play on the weekend was a struggle. 

“Having the ability to substitute in football is extremely important, especially when your opponent’s shuffling people in and out constantly,” Molin said. “In the third and fourth quarter, that’s where the risk gets higher because the kids are tired.”

Reidenbach had hoped to carry on the homecoming tradition, suggesting a joint flag football match with the middle school team to reduce risk of injury. However, the athletics department chose to hold a volleyball match instead, and Reidenbach felt the rejection lacked transparency. 

“The safety concern is valid, but I think it takes away from a lot of their autonomy and the efforts that the players put in,” Reidenbach said. “We as coaching staff would never let an unsafe situation happen. My goal isn’t to try to win and force them to finish the game. If we can’t play, we can’t play. The safety argument should have been more detailed instead of these abstract ideas of ‘What if this happens’ and not considering actual facts of how we’ve played.”

However, some players believe that they have been well-prepared for such situations. In the past two seasons, Jackson has competed in all but ten total game plays, while players typically take half of each game off.

“We have been in that circumstance as the smaller team going in as the underdog with less players consistently,” Jackson said. “Toughness and resilience are not things that come down to the number of players we have. I fully believe that with the 12 that we had going into that game, we had a strong nine that could go both ways the entire game with subs that could do the exact same thing.”

Molin acknowledged the team’s disappointment, emphasizing that while the sport has held a cherished role in Harker’s traditions, safety guided the school’s decision.

“We’ve been supporting football for many years and that support continues,” Molin said. “It’s tough to not have it on Harker Day, but we love the sport for what it is and for the community and the Friday night lights. I know homecoming is extremely special and important to the team, and it breaks my heart to do this, but we had to do the prudent thing.”

Football turnout has been a recurring challenge. Molin said the program has faced similar uncertainty in previous years, with roster numbers dropping low enough that homecoming game cancellations have been considered. 

Jackson attributed the struggles to program instability, noting that the team has had three head coaches in four years. He said that recruiting new players often falls on the athletes themselves. 

“Every July, August when football season comes around, it’s the same thing,” Jackson said. “Just gauging people’s interest and seeing if they’re interested in playing doesn’t get us people on the roster and it doesn’t build the program, and it’s the same thing that I have been doing every single year. The recruiting process and the building of the program should not be on the players.” 

Despite the setback, the football team will continue on with their season, with four scheduled games left. Pedro sees this situation as reason for the team to continue playing strong for the rest of their games. 

“We’re using the situation as motivation to work even harder for these next few games and show them that we deserved a game,” Pedro said. “Now we’re just happy to have a season. Originally we were very frustrated, and we’re now starting to get over that and realize there’s nothing we can do about it. Moving forward we just got to work really hard and be thankful that we have more games coming up.”

Reidenbach emphasized keeping a positive team morale and taking advantage of their few opportunities to play to their best degree.

“Homecoming is something that we really wanted for ourselves, but it doesn’t dictate who we are and how we perform as a team,” Reidenbach said. “This year, in our first game we had more people touch the ball than we ever had the entire last year. We’re breaking a lot of these molds of ‘Harker can’t pass.’ If we can teach them, we can kind of get to a place where we can keep building from all the benefits of this year and learn from the homecoming situation. These are things that we can adjust, so we can actually have a program next year.”