WOODSTOCK — Woodstock High football has forfeited Friday’s home contest at James McLaughlin Field against BFA-Fairfax due to low numbers, athletic director Quaron Pinckney confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.
The forfeit is a result of a four-party mutual agreement between both schools football coaches and athletic directors. It’s the first time in coach Ramsey Worrell’s seven years that a Woodstock game has been canceled due for a lack of healthy players.
“We canceled the game so we don’t play on a week-to-week basis moving forward,” Pinckney said. “Ramsey gave me a heads-up after the Poultney game, having the concern of healthy players. BFA-Fairfax is the best team in our division and have a lot of players. We have a lot of players who have never played a down of football, not even on the youth level.”
After last week’s 28-13 loss at Poultney, which was turned into a junior varsity game in the second half, Worrell was doubtful of his team’s chances of playing this week with roughly 16 players healthy and another 12 players out for injury and illness. The junior varsity schedule was canceled a week ago.
The forfeit comes a season removed from an undefeated campaign and a VPA Division III state title. Football’s been a pillar of the Woodstock community, with 11 state titles in the program’s history.
Last season’s state championship team graduated 12 seniors. About two dozen players filled the Woodstock roster at the start of preseason in mid-August.
Three D-III teams — Oxbow, Missisquoi and Mount St. Joseph — forfeited games last season for similar reasons. Of the three, Missisquoi has dropped back to junior varsity this year, and MSJ has dropped football entirely.
A 0-5 start to the season was the precursor to the BFA-Fairfax forfeit. Entering the preseason, Worrell made clear that numbers were low. That was clear in the season-opening loss to Lyndon Institute, as many starters played both ways. The Wasps have been outscored 213-75 this season and have two games left on the schedule: Oct. 11 against visiting Springfield and Oct. 19 at archrival Windsor.
The plan for Woodstock is to take this week’s game off to get players healthy, then to play the next two and make a run into the playoffs.
“We will assess once we get through the end of the season,” Pinckney said about the future of the program. “Keeping our players upbeat and being transparent with the community is our utmost priority now. Everyone is one-and-done in the playoffs. We hope to peak at the end of the season.”
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.