No Players - No Problem

If what's happening to the McLeod West (Minn.) High football team right now sounds like a movie, it's only because it should be one.

Some teams in McLeod's division have as many as 60 players on their rosters. McLeod has 19. And three of those are ninth graders who weigh 110 pounds, including helmet.

Most teams kick PATs. McLeod always goes for two. Not because it wants to. The team doesn't have a kicker.

Most teams run players on and off the field—offense, defense and special teams. McLeod only runs one guy in and out—that's because the 10 other guys never leave the field. They play offense, defense and special teams.

Most teams have 20 cheerleaders. McLeod has four. Most schools aren't falling apart. Half of McLeod West's building is crumbling and roped off. Most teams look forward to next year. McLeod doesn't have a next year. Money problems and dive-bombing enrollment numbers mean this year will almost certainly be its last.

And yet somehow, some way, the McLeod Falcons are 4-1, ranked sixth in the state and have their eyes set on toppling fifth-ranked, 62-player Cathedral from New Ulm this Friday night.

Just to scrimmage, Neubarth has to use his coaches, former players and even a local draftsman as the scout team QB.

Undermanned and undersized, McLeod goes into every game an underdog the size of the one in the Macy's parade. How it beats powerhouses like second-ranked, 52-player Wabasso (22-20) is a mystery the equivalent of Janet Reno winning Playmate of the Year. They've mostly done it behind the iron legs and will of Zak, who often carries the ball up to 40 times a game, and a set of teammates who seem to lack the quit gene.

"By the end of the game, the boys are so exhausted they can't even get up off the field," Coach Neubarth says. "I worry about Zak sometimes. You should see the bruises on his back and legs. Put it this way—we go through a LOT of ice."

What a story - talk about "Facing the Giants"! Here's to the McLeod West hero's.