Football coaches and Wadena-Deer Creek High School administrators are forgoing the rest of the varsity season after injuries started piling up.

Head coach Kyle Petermeier sent a letter to families earlier this week letting them know that the difficult decision was made out of safety concerns for younger players suiting up to fill vacancies.

"We are in a position now where we would have to trot out a majority of our team that is 14 and 15 years old, and that is not in the best interest of our kids. To us, safety is ahead of any individual game result," Petermeier wrote. "Football is a physical sport and putting out a team of mostly 14/15 year olds vs 17/18 year olds is not safe or realistic for our team, and even the opposing team playing."

He said that after injuries, the team has only eight upperclassmen available to play. The team's record with the forfeit is 1-7.

Petermeier told the Minnesota Star Tribune in a phone interview that there was only one regular season game left, against Staples-Motley on Wednesday night, before playoffs start next week. He said the team started the season with low upperclassmen numbers, and several of the older players had season-ending injuries.

But he said "younger kids were holding their own."

Last week's game had five freshmen playing the majority of minutes and seniors unknowingly playing their last game, he said. But he's comfortable with the decision and is heartened by the response.

"The community support and just talking to the kids, everybody really understands and is really behind us. They're behind the kids and behind us."

Petermeier's letter shared on the Wadena-Deer Creek football team's Facebook page received an outpouring of support from community members commending staff for prioritizing the safety of student-athletes.

In the letter, the coach expressed optimism about seasons to come.

"Where do we go from here? I wholeheartedly believe that the future of WDC Football is very bright," he said, adding that they have 15 9th graders, 13 8th graders, 24 7th graders, 20 6th graders, and 24 5th graders out for football. "I am proud of all of the kids in our program, and I am ecstatic to keep building through the off-season and into the fall of 2025!"