Encampment to seek football approval

*UPDATE* During the December 17 meeting of the Carbon Count School District No. 2 Board of Trustees, the board voted unanimously to permanently approve the Encampment Football program. The program will remain self-funded with the exception of the district providing funding for officials and travel to away game.

Two years after receiving permission to begin a six-man football program, the student athletes of Encampment High School will appear before the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees on December 17 to request the program be continued.

As was previously reported (see "Encampment gets 6-man football" on page 1 of the November 14, 2018 Saratoga Sun), several students appeared before the Board of Trustees when they met at Encampment K-12 School to request permission to start the program. For nearly 30 years prior, Encampment students joined Saratoga students on their gridiron while sporting purple and gold.

In fact, the last time Encampment had a program was in 1989 when it was coached by the late Burt Willford, a long-time staff member of Saratoga Middle High School.

The same year that Encampment requested approval to pursue a program, Saratoga had difficulty fielding a team to compete in 11-man football and was forced to play a six-man program. It would appear, however, that Encampment pursuing their own program proved beneficial for both schools as the Tigers and the Panthers were able to recruit in the double-digits the past two seasons.

When Encampment students first approached the Board of Trustees, however, there was concern as to whether or not enough students would participate in the program. Diana Berger, who was on the board at the time, asked if enough students would be interested. Koye Gilbert, a freshman at the time, replied that 18 high school students (excluding senior students at the time) were interested, as were 11 junior high students.

The Board of Trustees ultimately approved Encampment's request to establish a football program on a two year trial basis, but added some caveats. In the motion made to approve the program, it was specified that the school district would not provide any funding outside of paying for officials and transportation for away games. 

The Encampment students wanting the program would need to fundraise for private donations to be able to purchase equipment for the team and time and materials would need to be donated to rehabilitate the field. Additionally, the district would not payout for extra duty contracts for coaches and so those coaching would need to volunteer their time.

Saratoga High School alum and Encampment teacher Kegan Willford stepped in to volunteer his time as head coach of the program and was joined by Duane Gilbert as assistant coach.

Along with pursuing outside donations to kickstart the program, the Encampment Tigers were required to play a junior varsity schedule in 2019. Then-junior students were asked by the Board of Trustees if senior students would be upset at not lettering in football.

"I'll be a senior next year and I really think it will just be a benefit to have the varsity schedule for the following year," replied then-junior Reid Schroder. "It's definitely a move to the future of just one year."

This season, Encampment played their first varsity schedule and came out swinging. Along with dealing a loss to the defending 1A Six-Man State Champions, the Little Snake River Valley Rattlers, Encampment fought their way into the semi-final round of the State Championship where they faced the Farson-Eden Pronghorns. 

The Tigers narrowly missed out on the chance to go the championship round by a single point. Some silver linings were found, though, as Dalton Peterson and Koye Gilbert were awarded All-State Honors and Caysen Barkhurst was awarded All-Conference Honors.

The Carbon County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees will meet at 5 p.m. on December 17 in the Great Room of the Platte Valley Community Center in Saratoga.