Commentary by Lloyd Solon

For The Daily News

With a declining number of athletes that participate in the football program at R.A. Long High School, this could possibly be the last year for the program to remain competitive.

Due to the dividing lines that determine school enrollment and the open-door policy of allowing transfers to the other high school, unless changes are made, R.A. Long could face the reality of shutting down the football program completely.

Since there were only 50 student-athletes to play football this year at R.A. Long, the school had to scrap the C-squad team. The schedule was in place and the funding remained available, even though other programs were cut. But without players, it is impossible to field a team.

Currently the roster at R.A. Long reads 17 seniors, 16 juniors, nine sophomores and eight freshmen. The freshmen are currently playing important roles on the junior varsity team. If the program gains only eight or nine freshmen next year after losing 17 seniors, it will be in serious peril.

The returning juniors have good experience. But replacing William Yordy, J Nusbaum, Dylan Hopkins, Thomas McCall and a large part of the linemen will not be easy. The roster used to show 19 seniors until season-ending injuries to two linemen, Justin Wilson and Ivan Salkovics.

These injuries have allowed underclassmen to gain valuable experience for next year, but the turnover will probably be too overwhelming to overcome.

Conversely, Mark Morris fielded close to 100 players for its program. Some of those players actually live in the R.A. Long boundaries, but received transfers by the Longview School District to play for Mark Morris.

If the transfers only represent a handful of student-athletes, then the disparity in participation must be attributed to the dividing lines for enrollment. When Mount Solo Middle School was built, it was surmised that half of its students would attend R.A. Long while the other half attended Mark Morris.

Last year, R.A. Long received three football players from Mount Solo. This year, it received two. What this means is that Monticello Middle School is feeding R.A. Long, while Mark Morris is fielding players from both Mount Solo and Cascade Middle School.

These inequalities can only last for so many years before football at R.A. Long becomes a memory.

It’s hoped that this community could realize the travesty that is being created in this situation and make the corrections that are needed to bring equality to the two schools. It would be a shame to see football eliminated at R.A. Long. In that case, you might as well load Memorial Stadium onto a flatbed and transport it to the Mark Morris campus.

Hopefully, with the success that R.A. Long football is experiencing this season, it will encourage kids to attend the school to play football — and we won’t see the Lumberjacks’ last hurrah.

Lloyd Solon is a Longview resident whose son plays for the R.A. Long JV football team.