There won't be any football played at Highwood high school this season.

Coach Bryan Brandford says they had to make the difficult decision to drop the football program because of a lack of players.

"Due to the lack of numbers for our football program this year, we've asked for a year's leave of absence from the Big Rock League, we just didn't have enough kids out to safely support a team this year this year," Brandford says. "It's been almost 50 years of Mustang football and we're extremely disappointed in not having a team this year but we will try and provide some football opportunities this year, and in the spring and try again next year to improve the numbers of students that are interested in playing."

He says the students who did show up, along with parents, alumni, and past coaches were very disappointed, but he says Highwood is not alone.

:I talked to Football Alberta Friday morning and they've reiterated to me that there are three other programs in the province that had to drop because of a lack of numbers, particularly at the tier four level which is for schools under 450 students," he says.

Brandford says coaches have committed to help out with a football "club" to practice a couple times a week to keep the sport active and they'll try again with a camp in the spring.

He says there are other sports, jobs and school commitments that are taking students away from being able to also commit to football.