Football's back on at Barton High in Arkansas

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Football's back on at Barton High in Arkansas

BARTON, Ark. (AP) — Football is back on at Barton High School, after students and parents in the east Arkansas town convinced the local school board to restart the season.

The season was canceled a week ago after Coach Jim Sain said the team didn't have enough healthy players to compete safely.

But at a special meeting Wednesday, the board voted to reinstate the program.

"Our main objective is to restore Barton's football program to active status immediately," Karen Jones, a spokeswoman for players and parents said. "In doing this now it keeps the nucleus of the team together, making it easier to restore the program to traditional Barton Bear quality."

Only two schools — Little Rock Central and Pine Bluff — have won more state championships than Barton. The Bears also own a state-record of 63 straight victories, a run that ended in 1990. Their last state championship was in 1997.

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Sain said he called off the season because he worried the team's 11 healthy players could get injured by playing too much.

"At some point, I not only had to think like a coach but like a parent," Sain said. "I thought how would I feel if I sent my kid out there in a greatly outnumbered game and he got hurt because he was just out-manned."

Barton quarterback Darren Brown said members of the team met for a players-only meeting to discuss whether the program could be restarted.

"I have always respected Coach Sain," Brown said. "I understood why he did it. Nobody liked the decision he made but we respected it. We still respect him greatly and will probably practice even harder for him than we did before."

Barton went 8-3 last year, finishing second in the 3A-3. The Bears lost in the first round of the playoffs, 31-28 to Lake Village in double overtime.

Barton's undermanned team was off to a 2-2 start this year, but had to forfeit last Friday's scheduled game with Hoxie. The team is now preparing to face Piggott on Oct. 12.

[Sobriquet]

Got a final score on that game with Piggott?

[Sobriquet]

I googled it.

Barton had to forfeit. It goes in the record book as Piggott 13, Barton 0.