St. Elizabeth High of Oakland has suspended its football progam, said school president/principal Marty Procaccio early Thursday morning, July 11.
Procaccio, a St. Francis of Mountain View High grad, emphasized the program is merely suspended and could return after this season, but will not take the field in 2013.
“There are a number of safety factors,” Procaccio said. “We started last season with 16 players and ended it with 10. Eight signed up for this season and we interviewed everyone in the student body to see who could make a commitment to a summer program and we just weren’t going to have enough bodies. “
Added Procaccio: “It’s suspended but to say we’ve dropped football is incorrect. We have not sold the equipment and we have no intention to. We haven’t gotten rid of the helmets.”
St. Elizabeth athletic director Brandon Garcelon, a former De La Salle football player, declined to comment, referring inquiries to Procaccio. Garcelon was a high school teammate of new DLS coach Jason Alumbaugh.
St. Elizabeth, located in the Fruitvale area, has 155 students, down from the 300 it had about 20 years ago, though Procaccio said enrollment is slightly on the upswing.
The former Archbishop Mitty athletic director said the school looked into playing 8-man football, but that most of the eight-man teams are in the Central Coast Section.
Last season the Mustangs forfeited their final game with California School for the Deaf (Fremont) due to a lack of players – the school’s 30th consecutive defeat over a three-year period.
“We’re not going to put our students in a risk position,” said Procaccio, who added that if various factors change, football could still return after the 2013 season to the small school on 34th Ave.
St. Elizabeth has had some fairly recent success in football, going 64-46 in 10 years under coach Fred Sims, who is now running the program at Division I Berkeley High, a school with more than 3,000 students. Sims won two section titles with St. Elizabeth, made the section title game three consecutive times leading up to his departure after the 2009 season and made four NCS title games overall.
The school counts former Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays pitching star Dave Stewart among its alumni.
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