RACINE — Park High School's football team in Racine has ended its season early after the Racine Unified School District confirmed a "low number of players" forced the cancellation of remaining games.
The team's game against Case last Friday was canceled, as was this week's scheduled match-up against Kenosha Bradford.
Watch this video to hear from Park players:
The season was marked by injuries, low player counts, and changes in coaching staff. The team had been working to rebuild after losing a head coach near the start of the season.
"We lost our original head coach, and then we switched over to our offensive line coach, and then to the point at the end where we were with our defensive coordinator," said sophomore Quinn Toslek.
But beyond that, he said he felt like "our biggest challenge was injuries, players sticking around."
Fellow sophomore Matteo Estrada expressed frustration with teammates who "just stopped showing up and stopped showing up for each other."
"I came to Park to play football. And I actually knew the vision. I actually was looking forward to having a winning season," Estrada said.
Racine Unified School District Chief of Communication and Community Engagement Stacy Tapp said, "Though it's a disappointing way to end the season, we are working to ensure we bring Park Football back stronger next fall."
However, she was not able to expand on those efforts.
Parents told TMJ4 they'd generally like to see more resources and support for players.
Despite the setbacks, the players are not giving up on the program.
"What went through my head and a lot of the other sophomores' heads was, 'We'll be back next year,'" Toslek said.
When asked about hopes for next season, Toslek and Estrada both said they'd like to see the team make the playoffs, and they believe it's possible with committed teammates and hard work.
"We had opportunities to win, but we can definitely win some games next year," Toslek said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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