By Chris Faulkner
Beacon sports
For the past four years, Danville High School students who wanted to play football did so in a shared agreement with Class 4A Mount Pleasant.
There were at least 20 underclassmen that took part this season.
But when Pat Wallace came in as Danville's new superintendent, one of the things he heard from parents and the community was that they wanted the high school to bring back having its own football program.
After surveys, meetings, and even a helmet fitting, Wallace announced the school will be fielding a Class A football team for the 2023 season.
When Wallace came in July, he sent out a general letter to the district's parents and instead of seeking out the positives, he asked what was wrong. “What could be improved,” Wallace said.
Getting a football program again was high on the list.
It's been a number of years since Danville had its own team. When it dropped the sport due to low numbers, the school paired up with New London. That was short-lived. Before teaming up with Mount Pleasant, Danville shared with the West Burlington-Notre Dame team.
“We tried to measure the level of commitment with our stakeholders,” said Wallace, who played for St. Louis Parkway South High School and then for Coe College in Pella.
“We held two player meetings and offered morning and afternoon weightlifting,” he said.
Turnout for that was high, he said.
The helmet fitting represented another level of judging commitment.
Then, after a meeting with parents, students were asked to sign “letters of intent,” and 41 boys from grades 8-11 took pen in hand.
“That's what got us really excited,” Wallace said. “We did our due diligence to trust that number.
“There's always a risk. We're just trying to mitigate as much as we can.”
Nearby New London competes in 8-man football, but the cutoff by the Iowa High School Athletic Association is 120 students in grades 9-11. Danville has 144, so it will compete in Class A. In recent years, some 2A and 3A schools have had fewer than 41 players on their roster.
Danville has already notified its intentions to the IHSAA, and the timing is just right. During the off-season, the state will make up its new district alignments with two-year home-and-away schedules.
Current schools that Danville could be placed with are Columbus Community, Wapello, Pekin, Highland, Lisbon, Alburnett, and North Cedar.
What's next?
Football is not a cheap sport to run. The price tag Wallace and the school board estimate is $60,000.
“As a district, we could afford that without fundraising,” Wallace said. “But we're hoping the community can rally around this and help offset the cost through local fundraising and things.”
Such efforts will begin after the Christmas break.
“It means a lot to me,” Wallace said of the school having its own football team. “I'm really excited for our kids and our community.
“Football is not everybody's favorite thing, but it's what it represents. We're looking to bring back cheerleaders and a marching band.” There is a pep band, but there are no cheerleaders even for basketball at Danville.