St. John cancels football season

In this May 18, 2013 file photo, then-St. John Lutheran head football coach Brock Marion talks to his team on the sideline during a spring football game. St. John has announced the cancellation of its season.

Bruce Ackerman/Star-Banner

Published: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 4:43 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 4:43 p.m.

With less than a month to go before prep football kicks off, low turnout forced St. John Lutheran to cancel its season.

With only 15 players committed to taking the field this fall, athletic director Antony Fisher made the decision Wednesday. Head coach Brock Marion, who took the job in February, was first to express concern to Fisher about the low numbers and ultimately resigned.

"Many of the players we had were inexperienced, causing a great risk of injury," Fisher said. "Couple that with playing in a tough district, we'd be exposing our kids to a greater risk of injury."

Instead, St. John will re-evaluate its program and hopes to build a feeder program to help boost numbers in the future.

"We've got to reinvent ourselves and get a feeder program to feed into a high school varsity program ? that will last," Fisher said.

With a middle school and high school on the same campus, the formula Fisher has in mind for the Saints is a "freshman-type" team that feeds into a varsity squad. "The level of commitment from the players just wasn't there ? and that's what we'll need going forward," Fisher said.

He wouldn't commit to having a football team for the 2014 season but said "we ultimately want to bring it back and keep it here and never go through something like this again."

St. John has enjoyed success as recently as two seasons ago. Behind Star-Banner offensive player of the year Calib Alexander, the Saints finished 9-3 and reached the Class 2A regional finals in 2011.

"It's something that we knew was eventually going to catch up with us," Fisher said. "Last year we started with 29 kids and ended with 23 because of injuries. When (Marion) got here we had 31 signed up. But by the spring game we only had 13 kids there, and nine consistently showing up for (summer workouts).

"So the writing was on the wall."

Marion, a former NFL Pro Bowl defensive back, "ultimately recommended to me that we should cancel the season, and after further investigating, he was absolutely right," Fisher said.

St. John faced a tough district with perennial powers Trinity Christian and Warner Christian, along with St. Edward's who is a senior-laden team this season, Fisher said.

"I would rather have had an 0-11 season than having a season we couldn't finish and had a bunch of injuries," Fisher said.

St. John also did not field a team in 1993 and 1994.

Source: http://www.ocala.com/article/20130731/articles/130739935

nfl playoff schedule Rex Ryan tattoo Alaska earthquake houston texans houston texans green bay packers Joe Webb