By Bryan Bloodworth
BLOOMINGTON – Officials at Lexington High School have agreed to join into an existing co-operative agreement between Ridgeview and Blue Ridge high schools for the upcoming football season.
Dwindling numbers on the Minutemen squad forced the issue, according to Lexington athletic director and football coach Mike Castleman.
“It’s something we’ve been discussing for several years,” he said. “We’ve had continued years of less and less participation to the point where we’ve struggled to field a varsity team. We were relying on freshmen the last two or three years to be able to even put a team on the field on Friday nights.
“It got to the point where it was counter-productive because less and less kids were going out because there was a concern freshmen were having to play on Friday night with varsity kids who might be twice their size. “
The last few years Lexington has continued to field a varsity team despite having only 20 to 22 players (freshmen through seniors) in the program.
“Our (school) board had decided that we were not going to field a varsity team this year because of numbers,” added Castleman. “If we had not joined the co-op, we would not have had varsity football here.”
The team will be based at Ridgeview High School in Colfax, although there will be one game played in Lexington and Farmer City (where Blue Ridge is located). Castleman will serve as head coach of the team, whose official name will be Ridgeview-Blue Ridge-Lexington Mustangs.
Castleman said that with the combined enrollments of the three schools should the Mustangs make the post-season playoffs, they would likely fall under the 3A classification.
“We’re looking to have 45 to 50 players in the program,” added Castleman, who said the Mustangs will compete in the Heart of Illinois Conference. “We feel like 50 would be a really good number.”
He also senses a renewed excitement among Lexington players.
“The last couple of years it just seemed to be about survival,” he continued. “Now there’s some excitement about being competitive again and having good numbers.”
Castleman added that the co-op is strictly for football.
“We are basically entering into an existing co-op with Ridgeview and BR that has one year left,” he said. “Once the year is up everything has to be re-evaluated and re-approved by the conference.”
Bryan Bloodworth can be contacted at [email protected]
