Sep 4, 2013 2 min read

With just 11 healthy players remaining on its roster, Geibel Catholic has forfeited its game tomorrow night against Beth-Center. That’s quite a disappointment for Beth-Center’s players, who after having demolished Mapletown last week, 47-0, were looking forward to even more mayhem.

Poor Geibel. That team lost to another Fayette County school, Frazier, 81-0, last week. And that was the score at halftime. Mercifully, the coaches and officials agreed to play one-minute quarters in the second half.

Most on Geibel’s team, of course, had to play both offense and defense, and it’s a wonder not more than three players were lost to injury.

Geibel is not the only school that’s had trouble finding enough players to field a team. Imani Christian announced a few weeks ago it was dropping football for lack of players, leaving every school in the Black Hills Conference with an open date. And Avella has come close to making the same decision in recent years.

With just 167 students in grades 7-12, Geibel Catholic really shouldn’t have a football program. And the WPIAL should establish some standards that must be met before allowing teams from small schools to compete. More than pride is hurt when teams like Geibel are whipped by opponents. When undersized, exhausted kids play against bigger, faster, well-rested ones, they’re likely to be injured.

The WPIAL shouldn’t allow this to happen.