Skipping sectionals just fine for growing list of independent HS football schools

There are 17 Section Five football programs who have no chance to win a sectional championship this fall. In fact, they won’t even try.

These schools are the ones that are playing independent schedules for 2024 and they believe what is gained far outweighs the opportunity to play in sectionals.

“You wouldn’t know that we weren’t playing for a sectional title,” Wayne head coach Dave Marean said.

His program is joining the independent Wayne-Finger Lakes football league for the first time this year. The primary driver is numbers, or the lack thereof. Kids weren’t coming out to play football. It was mostly about who Wayne would play.

A recent change to Federation scheduling meant Wayne would have to play teams in their state class (Class B) instead of the leagues long used that were often based on geography. Though this requirement often balances schedules for larger schools, it ended up pushing Wayne into more uncompetitive contests. Only three times in 2023 did Wayne play a game where both teams scored ten points.

There were also more long trips to meet teams in their class instead of games against natural rivals. Football players don’t want to take hour-long rides for a 28-0 final. Their classmates wanted to make the drive to watch them even less.

“It just didn’t feel like the excitement of Friday nights and I think the kids felt that,” Marean said.

Pal-Mac is Wayne’s rival 15 miles due south. They went independent last season. Scheduling was a motivator, but head coach Brian Quick was also worried about the small size of his team. Both in number and in height/weight.

Pal-Mac ended up going 9-0 in their first season as an independent. The bump in enthusiasm for the program among players and the general student body was palpable.

“Last year, (classmates) saw us winning a bunch of games and winning a bunch of games and winning a bunch of games. They were like, ‘this is awesome’,” 2024 Pal-Mac graduate and football player Raiden Cota-Gustafson said. He’s an assistant coach for the Red Raiders this year. “We’ve never been a part of that. I think a lot more kids bought in and the whole school atmosphere kind of changed toward the football program. A lot of my friends were like, ‘I would have signed up for football if I would have known you were going undefeated’.”

“It was actually very uplifting for the kids,” Quick said. “They saw that you don’t have to be playing for a sectional title to be enjoying yourself and having a good time. There’s more to the game of football. There’s a lot of things the sport can teach.”

Wayne and Pal-Mac both say more players are coming out to play independent football. Better competition plus less driving equals more fun. Shockingly, high school kids like fun.

“We have some seniors now… that haven’t played since freshman year and this is what brought them out. And their buddies are saying, ‘Hey… the excitement is there’,” Marean said.

“I wasn’t the biggest fan of not playing in sectionals, but I did like that we’d get to play against the teams we used to play–Pal-Mac, Newark. I like having the rivalries back,” Wayne senior Kahlen Clark said.

Midlakes head coach Dave Whitcomb was the originator of the independent movement. Section Five has more independent programs for 2024 than any other section in the state. Both Marean and Quick give Whitcomb credit for saving a variety of football programs in the area.

Both coaches also hope one day to move their programs back into sectional play. They also believe the use of independent football as safehouse for rebuilding programs could also be here to stay.

Neither school has much regret about the choice. Marean only had 19 players for his varsity team last year. Having a functional varsity roster is all the evidence he needs about whether playing independent football was the right decision.

“Suiting up 5, 6, 7 JV players a game. That’s not successful. That’s not safe for anybody,” he said.

“It was different, but exciting at the same time,” Cota-Gustafson said. “I think it gave us the opportunity to compile a couple kids that never played football and give them the experience and the opportunity.”

Part of the reason is both schools are excited about being a part of the Wayne-Finger Lakes league is they get to renew the rivalry that was put off last season. The two schools share an ax as a trophy for the winner. Wayne has owned the ax for nearly a decade.

“For this year… the goal is for the kids to enjoy themselves, have fun, participate, stay safe, be injury free.” Quicks said. Then, he smiled. “And have an opportunity to bring back that ax.”

For Wayne and Pal-Mac, that ax has as much meaning as any sectional brick ever could.

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