Sandwich, citing low numbers, cancels 2022 varsity football season

Due to low current enrollment in its football program, Sandwich High School has announced that it will not have varsity football this fall.

The announcement was made public on the football program’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon.

The Indians have only six seniors and six juniors who returned to play varsity football this fall, according to the statement. Sandwich is coming off an 0-9 2021 fall season.

“After reviewing our current enrollment in our football program, the Sandwich High School athletics administration and coaches have decided that in the best interest of our students safety that we will cancel the 2022 varsity football season,” the football program announced in a release on its Facebook page.

According to the release, freshman and sophomore numbers are on the rise, and Sandwich is pursuing a schedule that would allow freshmen and sophomores to continue with their season.

“We are encouraged from a program perspective to make sure the kids can grow, learn and have those experiences, as we don’t want to either put them or our program development at risk,” the release said. “We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused to our student athletes, but we feel this is the best decision possible to ensure our students remain safe.

“We understand it is a difficult time for our junior and senior students who were looking forward to playing football. Our freshman and sophomore students are going to continue to work to rebuild Sandwich Football.” the release said.