Rib Lake made right call on ending football co-op after 2023
Members of the Rib Lake School board on August 11 made the right call when they approved moving ahead with 8-man football after the 2023 season.
The program will see a team fielded solely by Rib Lake players after decades of running a cooperative program with the Prentice School District. Prentice School Board will need to make a decision on the fate of the football program at that school before the October deadline for filing with the WIAA for intent to have an eight-man or cooperative program.
The possible move to an eight-man program has been tossed around by school officials, parents and coaches for some time as an increasing number of schools in the region have switched to eight-man programs. In recent years, Rib Lake has had to travel significant distances to fill out their 11-man football schedule against similar-sized schools. This has been wearing on players, families and school staff.
The 8-man football option was created as a way for smaller schools to continue to offer competitive football programs in light of declining enrollment at rural schools. With projections for Rib Lake’s enrollment to, at best, remain steady in coming years, the school has struggled to maintain a competitive program despite the cooperative. Due to the WIAA’s rules limiting the size of schools that may compete at the eight-man level, as a cooperative the combined student enrollments of Prentice and Rib Lake would make a shared team ineligible to compete in post-season play. This would be unfair to students at both schools.
The hope is that Rib Lake could find success in the 8-man programs and as a result attract more student athletes to come out for football in the future. The change will also have the benefit of having practices at Rib Lake rather than having to travel a distance to Prentice, something which may help students come out for the sport.
In a community perspective it will also have the impact of doubling the number of games played in Rib Lake bringing fans into the stands and increasing the likelihood they will stop at businesses in the village. Prentice students and community could see the same benefits.
Over the next two seasons, the schools will need to sort through the shared equipment and determine who will keep what. With protective equipment such as helmets having a set shelf life, the schools would have to make investments into gear sooner rather than later so the financial impact to school budgets should be minimal, if not a savings from no longer having to transport students to practices in a different community.
While it is sad to see the end of one of the longest-running high school sports partnerships, the Rib Lake board was elected to serve the students and residents of the Rib Lake district and in doing so, must look out for what is in the best interest of their community.
