Five Public League schools drop football

Five Public League schools have dropped football for the upcoming season according to Chicago Public Schools football coordinator Jaton Jackson.

Chicago Tech, Douglass, Farragut, Gage Park and Uplift will not field football teams. All but Douglass were included on the Public League’s initial football schedule that was sent out in June. Jackson said an updated version will be released next week.

Douglass forfeited the season after six games last year.Farragut was 5-3 last season, Uplift 0-3 and Chicago Tech was 4-5.

More than a dozen Public League schools forfeited last season, which led to the CPS starting a flag football league. CPS mandates that teams need at least 22 players to play, which can be an issue for smaller schools.

Even some larger schools have struggled with getting enough players recently. Young forfeited last season, but will be back playing this year.

The Sun-Times and Daily Herald conducted a survey last year that revealed 87 public schools found an 18.7 percent drop since 2008 in the number of students playing high school football. At some schools the number of students playing football plummeted by 40 percent or more.

Read the full story: Friday night flight, high school football in Chicago area takes a hit