Lincoln High School forfeits remainder of football season

The Lincoln High School Football season ended abruptly last week, after the suspension of two players for underage drinking left the school to shorthanded to field a six-man team.

The suspensions came on the heels of a series of injuries that sidelined several of the team's players in recent weeks. In addition to the spinal injury suffered by Joey Weiderhold during the game against White Sulphur Springs, the team lost players this season to concussions and ankle injuries.

The season started out strong, with 14 players taking the field under the guidance of Travis Williams in his first year as Lynx head coach. Despite the promising start, the suspension of the two players dropped numbers below the minimum number of players needed to field a team.

After a Sept. 26 meeting with the team and their parents about the state of the football program, Lincoln School officials opted to forfeit the season's three remaining games.

The decision leaves a big question mark hanging over the future of Lynx football. Lincoln Athletic Director Laura Allen-Bullis contacted the Montana High School Association to find out what, if any, impact the forfeiture decision will have on the 2019 season for varsity six-man football, but information on their response wasn't available at press time.

A similar concern arose in 2014 when a lack of participation and the low student population that year meant the school was unable to field a six-man team for the season. High school opted to forfeit the entire varsity season, and Shane Brown, who was the school's Athletic Director at the time, petitioned the MHSA to keep the Lynx team in varsity status for the 2015 season.

The MHSA can penalize the school for failing to complete the season in several ways, including a possible fine or holding the team to one or two years competing at the Junior Varsity level until the school can prove can complete a season.

In addition to loosing several players, the Lincoln School Board also voted to sack assistant high school football coach Jerum Au Claire during their Sept. 27. meeting. The reason for terminating Au Claire was discussed in executive session out of concerns for his privacy, so there were no details available about the decision, but Lincoln School Superintendent Carla Anderson said it was reached due to a violation of the terms of his contract.