Two years after advancing to the Division 8 state championship football game, Riverview Gabriel Richard will not field its own team this season due to low numbers.
Players have been given the opportunity to join Detroit U-D Jesuit’s program in a co-op arrangement.
Catholic League director Mike Evoy said on Aug. 10, the first official day of football practice, Gabriel Richard had only nine kids come out.
The problem didn’t get any better.
“On the 11th, it was the same nine. The 12th, it was the same nine,” Evoy said.
At that point, alarm bells were sounded.
“We started to have conversations and we knew we needed to potentially explore other avenues,” Evoy said. “We also tried to make some phone calls and rattle some cages. It never panned out.”
Reached by text, Gabriel Richard head coach John Sobush declined comment.
The first order of business once it was clear there wouldn’t be enough players to field a team was to make sure the kids who did come out for practice had a chance to play football this season.
The league approached U-D Jesuit about having the players join its team, and U-D Jesuit agreed to help.
“I think the biggest thing for us was just making sure that we give those young men an opportunity to live out a dream that they want,” U-D Jesuit head coach Kevin Glenn said. “Our mantra over here at U-D is ‘Meant For Others.’ We felt that was one of the things that we were going to do.”
Glenn said one of the players, a senior, came by the school Wednesday, met coaches and U-D players, got a tour of the facility and was given an overall synopsis of the program.
Evoy said that same player participated in a scrimmage U-D Jesuit had on Thursday.
“It’s a real testament to their mantra,” Evoy said of U-D Jesuit being willing to help.
As of Friday night, other players haven’t committed to playing for U-D Jesuit quite yet, including two other seniors.
But Evoy feels that could still happen shortly.
“I think more kids will come,” he said. “They want to see what the one guy’s experience was like. Just like anything, they’re a little timid about it. But even if it’s just one, this kid gets the opportunity to play football his senior year.”
The next task was to inform Gabriel Richard’s opponents that it wouldn’t have a team. Gabriel Richard was supposed to play Montrose in Week 1 and Fowler in Week 2, and Evoy said those schools were notified of Gabriel Richard’s situation and that they understood.
Other league opponents of Gabriel Richard can now take the scheduled games against Gabriel Richard as a forfeit win, or they can attempt to find another team to play that week.
The situation at Gabriel Richard is another example of a concerning drop in enrollment statewide that already has forced teams to cancel or alter their seasons.
Cheboygan and Roscommon each had to cancel their entire seasons due to low numbers, while Battle Creek St. Philip — which is an eight-man program — had to form a co-op with neighboring Athens High School because it couldn’t field a full team.
Richland Gull Lake on Aug. 11 announced it was also canceling its season, but the Michigan High School Athletic Association quickly approved an emergency co-op arrangement with Parchment on Wednesday.
Keith Dunlap is a freelance writer.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Low turnout leaves Riverview Gabriel Richard football unable to field team
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