Editor's note: An earlier version of this story said Bellevue had 29 players on its roster.
Bellevue Independent Schools announced it has canceled the rest of its high school's football season due to multiple injuries on the team.
Per a statement, athletic director Jim Hicks said Bellevue High School made the decision to cancel the remainder of the season due to a "limited number of healthy players available." Superintendent Misty Middleton confirmed that this is due to injuries on the team's roster.
"The safety of our student athletes is, and will always be, our number one priority," Hicks said.
Hicks also recognized that this not only affects the players but also their scheduled opponents, cheerleaders, band members and the families that support the team.
Bellevue Middle/High School serves grades six through 12 and is made up of roughly 400 students between those grades.
The football team's roster has 20 players. So far this season, the 0-7 Tigers and had faced tough losses each week. The Tigers had three games left in their schedule and were set to play Newport Central Catholic Thursday at 7 p.m.
"We finished the game Friday and had no intentions of canceling anything," Hicks said. "As the weekend transpired, we knew two (people) suffered concussions Friday night and we got to talking with the coach, superintendent, principal ... all weekend long we had the conversations — all day Monday talking about it, most of the day yesterday talking about it, just trying to come up with solutions to continue the season. (It) came down to the safety of the student athletes. It wasn’t worth it to us to put them in harm's way to keep playing football."
Steven Meyers, a senior captain on the football team, said the news was devastating.
"My heart dropped right there and then," Meyers said.
Meyers was injured earlier in the season, and has been playing several games with a cast. While the injuries began to pile up with the team, he said the cancellation still caught him off guard.
"If I was warned this week would’ve been our last game, I would’ve went all out," he said.
Meyers' mother, Jaclyn, said she felt like the season was being played on borrowed time.
"As a parent, we didn't think we'd have a season last year," she said. "So if I'm honest, knowing we got to play last year — and the games we got this year, we're fortunate we got as far as we did with the amount of players they got and the amount of injuries they sustained."
Jaclyn Meyers said not having the final three games of the regular season brings with it a loss of closure.
"The little things — the things you take for granted, the after-the-game pictures," Jacyln Meyers said. "We didn’t get those Friday nights, seeing his excitement — even though this has been a super rough season, watching him grow as a player and leader."
Despite the season being officially over for the football team, Hicks said the plan is to return next season.
"We're not giving up on them," Hicks said. "Even though our game season is over, we're not giving up on the kids this year. They’ll be in the weight room next week."
The team went to the KHSAA State Football Finals in Louisville in 1990 and fell to Russelville 21-7. Prior to that, Bellevue had state championship appearances in 1981, 1980 and 1976. The Tigers won state in 1977 and 1979.
"Bellevue has a rich and proud tradition of football success, and we look forward to continuing that next season and beyond," said Hicks.
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