OKEMOS, Mich. — The Okemos High School football program announced it would forfeit the remainder of its varsity games due to injuries and inexperience. The Wolves will now play four more junior varsity games this season.
"For the betterment of the program, for safety reasons," head coach Efe Scott-Emuakpor said. "A lot of our inexperienced players can gain that valuable experience and see some success playing against people that are at par with where we are at."
The Okemos team had very few seniors to start the season. When they made the switch to a junior varsity schedule, there was just one healthy and experienced senior left. His season is now over.
"It was a lot all at once. Definitely, the first reaction was to become emotional and blame everything else," senior Aiden Johnson said. "I was really just focused on moving to the next step and make it as positive as possible."
While his teammates took the field for practice, he traded in his cleats for a whistle.
"It's difficult in the face of this still come back here, and it's just because, I think, I love the game and the team just too much. I truly feel that this team and this community are my home and my family," Johnson said.
Okemos plans to honor its seniors this year. Johnson also added that Scott-Emuakpor was the first coach he ever connected with.