Meadowview Christian head football coach Lebo Jones announced last week that the Trojans will play 6-man football during the 2015 season.

The move comes a couple of weeks before the upcoming season and just over a year after the school announced a move from 11-man football to 8-man football in 2014. With numbers on the team dwindling because of a low number of high school aged boys at the school, it was a decision the school had to make if it wanted to keep the football program going.

Obviously, the situation is not ideal. Presumably, Meadowview leaders, alumni and parents would like to see the program play 11-man football again in the future. Maybe at some point it will.

With that said, the MCS school board and other leaders should be praised for finding a way to keep the football program going at Meadowview. It would’ve been easy to pull the plug on the program, but that would’ve been unfair to the players on the team.

Athletics, and in this case football, is about so much more than just playing a game. Sports give our youth a way to spend their afternoons, show the power of teamwork and put them in situations where they have to rely on others.

Athletic events create lasting bonds between teammates, even those who may not have been friends before putting on the same uniform.

It also would’ve been easy to try to get through this season as an 8-man team, but a couple of injuries would’ve likely ended the Trojans’ season short.

Instead, coaches looked at their options and found the best possible route for the team this year. Six-man football gives Meadowview a little bit of depth and means the team should be able to survive a few injuries.

Meadowview is far from the largest school in the Selma area, but it’s clear the program’s alumni are as proud and strong as any, and we have no doubt they’d be there cheering from the stands whether the Trojans are playing 11-man football or flag football.

They’ll have plenty to cheer about this year.

After all, the Meadowview football team will take the field again in 2015 — just as it has the last 45 years.