South football’s new schedule leads to newfound success
On Aug. 24, South Eugene High School athletic director Jim Moore announced that South would be cancelling their varsity football season, opting instead to schedule independently. Rather than playing a normal 5A Midwestern Conference schedule as originally planned, South chose to schedule games against varsity teams at the 3A/4A level and JV teams at the 5A level.
When asked about the decision to cancel the varsity season, Moore cited safety concerns, as only 13 of the 27 registered players had previous experience playing tackle football. In an interview with KEZI, Moore’s reasons for canceling the varsity season could be summarized as: It would be irresponsible and unsafe to ask such a small group of players with such limited prior experience to play a full 5A, much less 6A, varsity season.
South junior Julian Amtmann, a wide receiver and middle linebacker for the Axe, was initially disappointed with the schedule change.
“It’s disappointing to not be able to play your regular opponents. I’ve come to look forward to playing the same people,” Amtmann said. “But at the same time it’s kind of been fun to play teams that we wouldn’t normally play.”
Despite initial dismay with the new schedule, South was able to turn it around into new success, beating Lebanon High School’s JV team, 20-14. This was South’s first reported football victory since Oct. 9, 2023, when the JV team beat North Eugene High School’s JV team, 32-8.
Two weeks after the victory over Lebanon High School, the Axe won again, beating North Eugene High School’s JV2 team, 64-30. With these victories, South sits at a record of 2-2, with the chance to have a winning season as long as they win two out of their next three games. South will host senior night against Lebanon High School on Oct. 29.
South hopes to build off of these victories to create a winning football culture, allowing future players to compete at higher levels again.
Article by Elliott Gardner and Luke Zamberlan