Capital City and Jefferson City took the field for the second time ever Friday night. It was a resounding win for the Jays, but also a reminder of the fact that what was once one of the biggest high schools in the state has been cut in two.
The Missouri State High School Athletics Association announced enrollment numbers for schools this past week, and with the addition of Capital City in 2019, the Jefferson City total of 905 for grades 9-11 is just under half of the total of 1,828 the school had in the 2018-19 year.
The decision has had a positive academic impact by cutting a growing and overcrowded group of students into two separate schools. The tradeoff of a better academic environment has had the minor cost of some athletic side effects.
The drop in enrollment has dramatically changed the outlook for Jefferson City's athletic programs with the split cutting the team's talent pools in half.
The biggest example of this change is the Jays' cross country team. Saturday, the Jays weren't able to put together a full boys varsity team at the Gans Creek Classic, with Tommy Roehl being the only varsity runner with a ninth-place finish in the Boys' Gold race. The other four Jays runners who competed Saturday ran in the Boys' JV Gold race. The girls finished 16th in the Girls' Blue race with five runners.
That's a dramatic drop for a program that had around 60 runners five years ago, according to coach Brett Phillips.
"Three years ago, I noticed our numbers were going to start to take a dive when we passed the bond issue to switch schools because I was getting most of my kids from the west side and I knew I wasn't gonna have that as a feeder anymore," Phillips said Sept. 2 before the 2021 season.
Phillips has expanded middle school races and made a middle school coaching change to try to get more interest, but for his program and the rest of the programs at the school, they'll have to get used to life with fewer numbers.
Damon Wells entered his first season as the Jays football coach with the team dropping down to Class 4 after being in Class 5 last season and Class 6 the year before. In the Central Missouri Activities Conference, the Jays are the smallest public school per MSHSAA's numbers with Capital City's 1,038 students and Sedalia Smith-Cotton's number of 1,077 just ahead of Jefferson City's.
That change has meant a mostly inexperienced team for Wells' opening season with 16 of his 22 starters being underclassmen. Even against Capital City, the 11 seniors on his roster were just under half of the 20 seniors the Cavaliers had in their first senior class.
It will also mean a tough conference challenge in the CMAC, with Hickman (1,460) and Rock Bridge (1,458) pacing the conference in the enrollment metric and having an edge on the Jays in numbers. The Bruins depth was able to outlast the Jays in a 49-34 Week 3 win for the Bruins where their offense shined.
Competing with the bigger schools is not an impossible task by any means. Private school Helias is at just more than a third of the Columbia school's enrollment with 562 students, but the Crusaders are undefeated and current favorites to win the CMAC football title. The softball team is also in the hunt for a conference title with Capital City and Rock Bridge.
On the other hand, the Jays softball team has struggled with having to rely on a young core of position players with junior pitcher Avrey Reynolds. A program that won a district title in 2018 is now 2-14 after struggling without Reynolds, who missed the beginning of the season. That's the worst start for the Jays in over a decade with multiple freshmen having to be thrust into the lineup this season.
"We're a lot less experienced of a team this year," Coach Zac Miller said after a loss to Fatima on Sept. 7.
The lack of experience and decrease in depth across the board doesn't mean the Jays won't be able to compete in the CMAC down the road, even if it has made them less competitive in the short term.
Teams on the lower end of enrollment like Helias' squads and Capital City softball have all been successful and shown its possible to compete with the larger Columbia schools. However, the Jays need to get used to life with fewer numbers and it might take some time to get used to that transition.