'It was terrible.' Port Jefferson athlete students disappointed after high school drops football team
The team did not meet the required 16-person minimum and are trying to find solutions.
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This school year would have marked the 100th year anniversary of the Port Jefferson High School football team, but now the athletes may not get to play at all.
The team learned last week that they won’t have enough players to have an official team this year.
“It was terrible,” said junior Sam Fabian. “I have aspirations of playing college football and continuing that on to the next level. And hearing that the most important year for my football recruitment got shot down was terrible.”
Officials say they expected 23 returning players and eight incoming freshmen.
However, some kids were injured, moved schools or changed sports. Now they only have 11 players. That means they don’t meet the required 16 players minimum.
“We know there's so much statistics about children who play sports and what it gives them in terms of their mental health, their social aspects, the increase in academics,” said Superintendent Jessica Schmettan. “So that's really what's important right now is getting these boys on the field.”
The school went to Section XI, the governing body for Suffolk high school athletics and proposed a merge with the Rocky Point team.
But Section XI did not approve the request, saying it would disqualify Rocky Point from any post-season games. Now the school is appealing the decision in hopes of getting their players on the field.
Section XI said they had no new information as of Sunday night, but added that they did not deny the merger with Rocky Point. They stated that Rocky Point denied combining with Port Jefferson themselves.
