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“I just feel terrible for the kids.”
With the cancellations of both the Todd Beamer and Hazen high school football seasons, that sentiment has rung throughout locker rooms, hallways and meeting rooms alike across Washington state.
A shocking revelation to many outside the footballing world, but to those inside it, a reality that has come true all too quickly. It is important to make the distinction early, that Todd Beamer and Hazen were in different situations as to why their varsity seasons came to a sudden end.
Several high school coaches, athletic directors and league commissioners shared their thoughts in interviews about high school football trends, including what leads to forfeits and what needs to change to keep programs going.
Hazen, a Renton school, has more issues that just players being injured and having a young roster of players that are not ready to be at the varsity level. Their problem is much more unique and nuanced than that, seemingly a culture problem.
There are reports of Hazen coach Marcus Carr leaving his previous job unceremoniously as he was no longer coaching Inglemoor after week two in 2025. The Reporter filed a public records request for more information about the situation with Carr and Inglemoor and is waiting for that request to be filled.
Todd Beamer, a Federal Way school, on the other hand has been fighting a war of attrition since around the pandemic. The Titans this season were decimated with injuries, which happens, football is a violent sport by nature. But the bench was thin, extremely thin and when the district, coaches and the administrators came together to discuss the future of Todd Beamer football, they decided to cancel the rest of the league varsity season and essentially play junior varsity level football the rest of the season.
With openings on their schedules, Beamer and Hazen played each other on Oct. 16, an 18-13 win by Beamer at Renton Memorial Stadium. The Renton School District released the following statement leading up to the game:
“Football games are such an important part of the high school experience for all students, and they create a big platform for so many student programs to be involved with the game in their own way. By tradition, the last home game of the season is Senior Night and alongside recognizing the senior football players, we recognize the seniors from Marching Band, Drill, and Cheer that put in a tremendous amount of work to be a vital part of the Friday night experience for all students.
“We are really excited to be able to take the field against Todd Beamer on Friday night (Oct. 16) to honor the seniors and showcase these outstanding programs. For all of the challenges that the Hazen football program has faced this season, to be able to provide this opportunity for the players and for the programs that make the home game experience so special is extremely positive. We are thankful to Todd Beamer High School for the opportunity to play and for making this senior night celebration possible,” according to the Renton School District statement.
Coaches and programs around the league have seen the forfeiting of a season coming for a while. But to see it actually take shape, this close to home, was a bit of a shock. For football, this is a rarity, but in terms of other sports this is happening more and more.
Kent-Meridian girls basketball has played a sub-varsity schedule in recent history among other sports in the North Puget Sound League (NPSL).
“This is really high profile because it is football. This happens in other sports, it just isn’t as publicized,” said Jon Price, Auburn High School athletic director and NPSL football commissioner.
“Other programs not being able to field teams doesn’t help anybody,” said 39-year coaching veteran Steve Valach of Liberty High School in Renton, part of the Issaquah School District. “It hurts all of us statewide, it is just not good for high school football. You just feel awful for those kids.”
Jacob Allie has been head football coach at Lindbergh, in Renton, since 2024. A school with similar demographics as Todd Beamer and frankly similar numbers to the Titans, but plays in the state’s 2A classification in the KingCo league while Beamer plays up a classification at 3A. Lindbergh has an adjusted enrollment of 905 students. Beamer has 823.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) has set Class 2A enrollment numbers for schools between 450 and 899 students. Class 3A is 900 to 1,200 students. Schools must apply to the WIAA to move up or down a classification. Federal Way Public Schools has Beamer playing up a level so all of its schools are in the same classification.
Lindbergh is off to its best start on the gridiron in over a decade, recording its first four-game win streak since 2014.
“We’ve been there. We’ve had some tough years where it has been brutal,” Allie said.
“The state of high school football in our area is tough right now,” he continued. “The dynamic of high school football has changed especially at 2A, the transfers make it tough. We just gotta work with the kids that are here and want to be a part of this program.”
Allie brought up kids playing football at the youth levels has changed and the transferring at the top is impacting his roster.
In just a season and a half under his leadership, Allie has seen his program change a pretty significant amount. Allie is very involved in the school, and has put a real impetus on molding his freshman and sophomores to be ready to play at the varsity level because of his roster constraints.
“You gotta get creative with how you keep the kids out there and engaged. It’s tough man, we’ve been there the last couple years taking a lot of losses and having tough seasons. Unless you are in it for the right reasons, that stuff can get out of hand quickly,” Allie said.
In years past, Valach, at Liberty, would play a couple sophomores and then mostly a mix of juniors and seniors. Now, he is having more and more underclassmen in his starting lineup.
“You would have that exceptional sophomore, but rarely ever would you have a freshman playing varsity,” Valach said.
Allie voiced his opinion on students transferring as well, having an impact on his player count. Valach echoed the sentiment as well as Price.
“I don’t think the transfer thing has helped the forfeits at all,” Valach said. “You make the big time where you are and I think more people think the big time is at this other school. It’s a mindset but it’s not a good mindset.”
“I think the building of super teams is real and there are rules that help that. When you become somebody that is struggling, it is harder to dig out than it was 10 to 20 years ago,” Price said.
Lindberg students have transferred to Hazen, Kentwood, Renton among others. Liberty has had players go to Bellevue, O’Dea (Seattle) and more top-heavy teams.
Both Allie and Valach bring up the importance of creating an environment where players want to be a part of something and build a foundation for the future.
“I just think there are places where it is tougher. I taught in Federal Way and taught there for a while, it is just a different group of kids. When programs in some of these places are folding, we are going to lose kids too,” Valach said.
But in the modern age, a want to win has a higher price than ever.
Similar to Todd Beamer, Liberty has open enrollment for incoming ninth graders. In an interview with The Federal Way Mirror, Todd Beamer head coach Rodney McCurry discussed open enrollment having an impact on Beamer athletics with students choosing to go to other schools in all athletics.
Valach undoubtedly has players on his team who are from the Hazen service area, but due to the Liberty youth program they live close enough to Liberty to make that commute.
“Bellevue has had open enrollment, they get all the premier guys although Interlake had some guys. I don’t know the answer,” Valach said. “I don’t want to build my program on transfers, we have lost kids to O’Dea and Eastside Catholic. I want guys that want to be a Liberty Patriot.”
Lindbergh, similar to Todd Beamer doesn’t have the benefit of a feeder program putting all the weight of development on a coaching staff with just nine coaches and one volunteer.
“We don’t get a lot of kids that come through youth programs or kids who come through great feeder programs. We gotta start with our foundation and developing,” Allie said.
Will programs like Hazen and Todd Beamer continue to come up lame before the end of the race? Coaches are hesitant.
“It’s hard to say, I think if things don’t change it will continue to happen,” Allie said. “We are going to get to a point where eventually schools are going to have to make a decision if it is worth it.”
“You may start seeing schools like Evergreen and Tyee (in the Highline School District) where they are coming together as two schools and one football program.”
Liberty at one point played a 2A independent schedule where it wasn’t a part of KingCo, which was a big help in playing competitive games. If coaches have that sort of flexibility, more programs would survive and possibly thrive.
“If you are the coach that wants to do that, but they have to play this gauntlet where they aren’t going to score. We got to help those guys out,” Valach said.
Price emphasized the safety factor that administrators in Federal Way and Todd Beamer had to deal with the consequences of.
“Safety is a big thing with football. Not that other sports are completely safe, but football has contact on every play with almost every player on the field on every play,” Price said.
Price said that every school in the area should continue to invest in weight training programs and their weight rooms. That can help create a more level playing field with stronger kids all around.
In terms of a permanent fix, a suggestion of minimum roster requirements piqued the interest of Price.
“That’s an interesting thought, I have never thought of that. With all sports as academic-based athletics moves forward, I think everything needs to be looked at,” Price said.
