Friday Night Lights is back! Inside New London making their return to varsity football

You would guess that most high schools across the country take part in football on the varsity level every season, right? Not entirely true.

For New London High School, Friday Night Lights will be making it's return to the school for the first time since 2020. Let's dive into what has transpired since the last varsity football was last played four years ago at New London.

Losing Football at New London High

New London last fielded a varsity 11-man team in 2020, finishing with a 2-9 record. Football wasn't gone altogether those four years. The Wildcats played eight-man football in 2021 (2-4 record), and junior varsity football in both 2022 (3-5) and 2023 (1-7).

The central reason for why New London stopped playing varsity-level football was simply put by former Athletic Director (and AD at the time) Susan Albaugh, who said, "We did not have enough players to field a varsity 11-man football team safely."

Albaugh pointed to a combination of "the pandemic, small class sizes, a lack of interest, injuries, and eligibility" as the variety of reasons that led to a steep decline in numbers.

"In the fall of 2020, we started the season with 26 players on the roster and ended the year with 16 healthy and eligible players," said Albaugh. "For the following year, the fall of 2021, practices began in August with 15 players, and of those 15, there were at least five who had either never played before or had zero varsity-level experience. With the potential for injuries, it was clear that we could not field an 11-man team."

When it was announced in 2021 that varsity football would not be played, Albaugh explained that it was a big blow to not just the school but also New London as an community.

"The thought of not being able to field a football team was a huge blow to our school community," Albaugh said. "We had eight seniors and two junior football players in the fall of 2021, as well as an entire marching band and cheer squad who were looking forward to the season. Thankfully the schools that play eight-man football like SMCC and Toledo Christian reached out about the possibility of playing. With their help, we were able to salvage a season with six games for eight-man football."

Bringing Friday Night Lights back

In the past three years, Albaugh described that it has been a challenge and a slow process for the New London athletic department to bring football back and most importantly didn't want to rush anything.

"It was a challenge to be patient and not to rush the rebuilding process. Football is such an integral part of school athletics that it is important to get this right," Albaugh said. "Everyone wants immediate results, but to do what is best for our student-athletes, we had to take a step back and play one extra year of JV 11-man football because we had so few upperclassmen. We have had to proceed with caution so that we don’t find ourselves back in the same situation with low numbers."

Albaugh credited New London head football coach Jon Harrison as a key part in helping the student-athletes back into the swing of things on the field.

"Coach Harrison has worked hard to create a positive culture in our football program that students want to be a part of," Albaugh said. "He focuses on helping our athletes learn the game, but more importantly, build their confidence, achieve in the classroom, and support one another, and our school community. Coach Harrison along with assistant football and head wrestling coach Sam Homan have been influential in collaborating with other varsity coaches to improve our efforts in the weight room and our consistent expectations across all sports. We are very proud to see this growth in our small community over the last two or three years."

"We've been trying to build those numbers the past three years," said Harrison, who coached the eight-man JV football team last year. "The first year we would have about 6-7 guys in the summer. Last year, we had about 15-17 show up. This year we've been averaging about 25 showing up. We have 32 kids from middle school coming up. We're expecting more numbers coming up in the future."

Harrison said the team is made up of 16 freshman, with the rest being upperclassman. "When school starts, 28 kids will be our number," Harrison said. Albaugh says "I am hoping for 25-30."

Junior offensive and defensive lineman Weston Risner, who played on New London's eight-man JV football team last year, talked about what it's been like to get to this point. "Last full varsity season was in 2020, when I was in eighth grade," said Risner. "I'm one of the only guys on the team that has a shred of varsity experience through eight-man. It's been a rough couple of years. We have a good group here. Some have stuck with it and some have come and went."

If the anticipation was high for the return of football amongst the players, then the buzz around town is only gaining.

"It's not really football heavy around here but it's fun to hear the word being spread around town," said senior safety Chase Cooke.

"We've been feeling the buzz. People are excited," said Harrison, a New London graduate. "I think everybody is excited for Friday Night Lights."

"Personally, I've had friends at school tell me there all excited to watch the games," Risner said. "Family members are asking me if we're ready for the season. It's definitely known that we're coming back."

Another layer into the excitement is that New London is currently in the beginning stages of building a new football and track stadium that will be ready in the fall of 2025. Their home games will be played at New London Recreation Park in 2024. The Wildcats will play a 10-game schedule, which most varsity teams around the state usually play in the regular season. Their opponents will consist of non-conference schools Millersport, Bishop Rosecrans and Vanlue in the first three weeks, and the rest will be teams in the Firelands Conference.

As the season draws nearer on August 23, Risner expressed just how ready he and his team are to get on the gridiron. "We haven't had the opportunity to play varsity football and I look around at all the other schools getting ready for Friday Night Lights, just hoping one day we would be here," Risner said. "Thank God we finally are here and it's exciting."

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter/X:@JamesSimpsonII

James Simpson II is a sports reporter with the Ashland Times-Gazette, and was recently at the Mansfield News Journal. He is a self-published author and has gotten the opportunity to interview sports figures like Bernard Hopkins, Norm Nixon, Vince Dooley, Jimmie Johnson, etc., for stories at different publications. He also produced a pretty cool feature on late NBA great Wilt Chamberlain.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Friday Night Lights is back! Inside New London making their return to varsity football