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Mount Clemens shuts down football season

grandy

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http://www.miprepzone.com/macomb/results.asp?ID=10602

Mount Clemens shuts down football season
By Mitch Hotts
@mhotts on Twitter

Mount Clemens High School has been forced to cancel Friday night's homecoming football game and forfeit the rest of the season due to a lack of qualified players, school officials said Thursday night.

The Bathers have had roster issues since the season began, having to forfeit a second-week match-up against New Haven High School after having only 11 healthy or ineligible student-athletes to play.

A similar scenario this week resulted in a premature end for the season.

?We just had a shortage of players,? said first-year coach Quentin Hines. ?We had a small group of guys to begin with.?

Mount Clemens had only 12 players available. Other high school squads often have upwards of double that number.

Some Mount Clemens players were injured, some were academically ineligible and some quit, according to school officials.

Students in Mount Clemens Community Schools who participate in athletics are required to maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher in order to play. Football players who failed to keep up with their studies were not allowed on the field.

?Some kids simply were not taking care of what they need to in the classroom,? said school board President Earl Rickman. ?Your education has to be your No. 1 priority.?

After the second-week forfeit, the team was able to keep the rest of its schedule until this week. They did not win a game and were outscored 283-20 over the season.

Center Line coach Ben Torres said he was informed of the cancellation this past Monday. The Bathers were scheduled to play Clintondale High School next week in the final game of the year.

School officials said it was unsafe to compete with a reduced roster. The team has had about 15 constant players for the year.

?The numbers dictated our decision,? Rickman said.

Despite the disappointing end to a lackluster season, Hines said he is optimistic about the future.

?Coming into the second year, I can better stress academics so that we don?t lose half the team at the beginning of the year like we did this year,? he said. ?We have some good players coming back as seniors, so there is a foundation to build on. I?m also excited about some of our eight and ninth graders, we have some good kids in that program.?

Although the homecoming game was cancelled, the dance and other activities at the high school will still take place, Rickman said.

However, there will not be a parade as a lack of student musicians cancelled that program as well, officials said.

(Macomb Daily Sports Writer Charles Pleiness contributed to this report)
 
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