Skyline High in Oakland is ending its varsity football season early after the school says it no longer has enough players available.
Skyline High is the second East Bay school in the past week to cancel its season, partly due to player safety.
The first school was Mount Diablo High. The school was supposed to play against Benicia High, but Mount Diablo High canceled its varsity season last week amid player safety concerns.
“We had to scramble to fill our spot today to have a homecoming game and we’ve heard of other schools having to do the same,” Benicia High principal Brianna Kleinschmidt said.
Skyline High did the same. The storied Oakland program, once led by the late John Beam, is canceling its season, citing injuries, transfers and other circumstances impacting player availability.
In a statement, the principal wrote, “This is a decision we do not take lightly and it came after exhausting all other options.”
The news came as a shock to many in the McClymonds crowd, since the school has been rivals with Skyline over the years.
“It’s a shock really, because when I was growing up Skyline was the dominant force,” parent Laron Blackwell said.
Leia Grew, a parent, agrees that player safety comes first. Her son even chose to wear a “guardian cap” over his helmet as an added layer of protection.
“He’s the only one on the team that has one. I’m really happy he has it on, we do a lot of stretching. I think player safety is of big importance,” she said.
Some head trauma experts can’t say whether head-injury concerns are driving high school players away from football, but what has changed is awareness.
“The awareness of head injuries have gone up. More parents are seeking care when their kid gets injured,” UCSF neurological surgery assistant professor Dr. John Yue said.
Looking ahead, Skyline says it will spend the rest of the school year recruiting more student athletes, with the goal of rebuilding its football program for next season.
