Farmers Without Football

Rural high schools are increasingly unable to field even six and eight man football teams. At least three schools in Colorado, Kit Carson, Arickaree and Wiley High School are considering cutting football all together despite winning legacies.

Some school officials blame the declining number of players on the economy, saying families in rural communities are being forced to move to the Front Range in order to earn a living. Others argue that unlike in years past, when athletics were a focal point of a community's youth, kids are now drawn to other pursuits, such as video games and the like.

Many rural districts long ago gave up trying to field full sized football teams. Rampant injuries from football are another factor that makes the sport increasingly less popular. In urban and suburban area, soccer is starting to replace football as the sport of choice.

While parts of Colorado are booming, rural counties have been steadily losing population. Few young people who would be having the kids who would play on rural football teams are choosing to farm.

Hundreds of farmers in the Greeley, Colorado area may be wiped out when new owners of defaulting loans from the failed New Frontier Bank are purchased today and likely foreclosed upon; the local bank had been more inclined to roll over old loans into new ones. Self-dealing loans with Board members may have been a bigger factor in the bank's collapse than its leniency with customers, however.