In a battle against numbers game, one of Columbia’s smallest high schools is winning
C.A. Johnson football coach Stephen Roberson has seen the lows. He could get a peek at the highs Friday against Gray Collegiate in the regular season finale.
Roberson walked into a situation three years ago at C.A. Johnson where he routinely had 19 players available on a Friday night for varsity football, with no junior varsity or feeder program to speak of. But he’s been diligent, encouraging kids to come out and be a part of something special.
He’s seen growth in the program — with more than double the participation — and wins of the field have followed. Something special could come Friday.
The Hornets (4-5, 2-1) have a shot at finishing in a three-way tie for the Region 3-2A title if they can upset the War Eagles (6-3, 3-0). Regardless, C.A. Johnson will make the Class 2A playoffs at no worse than a No. 3 seed.
“The spirit and morale are pretty high,” Roberson said. “Football does a lot for a school because it’s the first big sport during the year. Having success there could carry over into the winter and spring sports.”
C.A. Johnson has an enrollment of around 400 students. The Hornets’ four wins are their most since the 2013 season.
The fact that Roberson has been able to build the program since his arrival is the opposite of what is happening with participation in football nationwide. Last season, his numbers grew to 33 players, and this season it reached a high of about 48 players. He’s settled into having roughly 42 players dressed and on the sidelines each week.
He still couldn’t field a junior varsity team, and nearly half of his roster is made up of either freshmen or sophomores. Many times the younger kids aren’t ready to play on this level, but he needs the numbers to fill out a varsity team.
Roberson isn’t the only school in the area having the difficult task of number-crunching.
In Richland One alone, only A.C. Flora, Dreher, Keenan and Lower Richland have enough players to field a JV team. C.A. Johnson, Columbia and Eau Claire are three of the area’s smallest schools and only play on the varsity level. A.C. Flora is the only one fortunate enough to field a B Team, which consist mainly of ninth-graders.
“We have eight to 10 young kids that don’t receive much playing time,” Roberson said. “That hurts their progress as far as developing and maturing as a football player. It’s paramount to get them in the game but a lot of time we don’t get that opportunity. Because of that, we lose a few kids. We’ve lost three this year for that reason. I’m not upset with the kids though. I get it.”
The numbers problem isn’t just limited to the Midlands schools or South Carolina. High school sports participation declined for the first time in 30 years for the 2018-2019 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Leading the way is 11-man football, which decreased by 30,829 participants to 1,006,013, the lowest mark since 1,002,734 participated during the 1999-2000 school year.
It’s the fifth consecutive year the actual number of participants dropped for football across the country, while the number of schools with the sport remained steady. The numbers of football players dropped in all but seven states, and the average number of participants per team decrease from 73 to 70. (That number includes varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams.)
Several factors affect participation. Kids have more options today for extra-curricular activities. Some have jobs. Others elect to specialize in a certain sport year-round, limiting the multiple-sport athletes who were more common in years past.
Safety in football has also been a hot-button topic. Among the issues facing the sport these days are concussions that could elevate the risk of mental illnesses such as dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) later in life.
“While we recognize that the decline in football participation is due, in part, to concerns about the risk of injury, we continue to work with our member state associations, the nation’s high schools and other groups to make the sport as safe as possible,” Dr. Karissa Niehoff, the NFHS executive director said in August. “Every state has enacted rules that limit the amount of contact before the season and during practices, and every state has concussion protocols and laws in place, so we continue to believe that the sport is as safe as it has ever been.”
South Carolina took away the “eight-quarter rule” with safety in mind after the 2014 season. That rule gave kids an opportunity to play on the JV level one night while also being a backup on varsity that same week. The issue has impacted both larger and smaller schools in the state. To the smaller ones with depth issues, it’s meant the difference between having two programs on campus instead of just the varsity level.
“That’s experience and development time that the kids don’t get,” Roberson said. “It certainly hurts us more than the larger schools.”
Eau Claire High and coach Michael Kelly haven’t had the same success with participation as CA Johnson. On a recent Tuesday evening, the Shamrocks had 21 players on the practice field. The previous Friday, they dressed 29 players in a loss to C.A. Johnson. They have been outscored 436-38 on the season with the closest loss in the 0-9 start being a 42-12 setback to Dreher.
Kelly said the lack of feeder programs such as JV or a B team is an issue.
“It cuts away from what we want to try and do. Kids come in undersized, never had a summer to lift weights because of other obligations. There is a disconnect sometimes between the middle schools and the high schools,” Kelly said. “It’s rough to put those kids in that situation, but by the same token you must be able to produce and get the numbers out to field a team going in the right direction.”
Another issue facing smaller schools is that kids transfer to what they believe is a better situation both athletically and academically. Both Roberson and Kelly said they lose kids every year to other local high schools.
“Our kids get recruited down to the middle school level,” Roberson said. “All I try to do is get into the middle school and talk to the kids year-round, go to their middle school games and be very visible. I address them as future Hornets. Even with that, they sometimes end up at other schools.”
CA Johnson record over the years
2019 4-5
2018 2-9
2017 1-9
2016 1-9
2015 1-9
2014 2-8
2013 4-7
2012 2-9
2011 3-9
2010 2-8
2009 7-4
