MARIA STEIN, Ohio — About a mile past St. John the Baptist Church and across the street from a grain elevator stands the heart and soul of this small, western Ohio community: Marion Local High School. On Friday nights in autumn they come together, sporting the Blue and Gold to cheer their football team, the Flyers. What makes Marion Local an outlier here is that the football team has players — lots of them. Nationally, high school participation in 11-man football has fallen by more than 10 percent since 2009. Nationally, children who are white now account for 56 percent of high school football players, compared with 76 percent in 2006.

Source: New York Times December 05, 2019 10:00 UTC