DW Cancels JV Football

WAITSBURG/DAYTON – Due to declining numbers on the DW football roster, the last high school junior varsity football game was Mon., Oct. 9 in Irrigon. JV athletes will remain on the roster, at practice, and at varsity games but there will be no further JV games for the season.

The original JV/Varsity roster listed 35 athletes. An updated roster, released last week, lists 27 players. Head DW football coach Troy Larsen attributed the decline to a mix of students moving from the district, players quitting, grade ineligibility and injuries.

Also, players are limited in the number of quarters of football they are allowed to play in a season. Larsen said this year’s team only has seven linemen on the whole team. The younger linemen have played both JV and varsity, which is maxing them out on play time.

“Then with (Chris) Philbrook out for the year (with a leg injury), freshman Shawn Evans will be the starting quarterback. So we have just run out of bodies,” Larsen said.