Galva gridders get Billtown boost

The Galva High School football team will get some additional manpower when the season rolls around in early August.

That's because the Williamsfield School Board, at its meeting May 12, voted 6-1 to accept an invitation from the Galva school district to co-op football with Galva for the next two years.

Galva head football coach Jeff Schmulbach will get an early indication just how much manpower next year's team will get as he and his coaching staff meet with interested Williamsfield students this Thursday.

Schmulbach said he is looking forward to adding some numbers to his team, however many decide to show up.

"If we get 10 kids, that would be great. But if we only get two or three, that's fine too," Schmulbach said. "I look at this as a chance to give the 30 or 40 boys at Williamsfield a chance to play football. I'm sure there have got to be some there that have always wanted to give it a shot."

With dwindling numbers in the Galva program in recent years and the emergence of co-op teams, Schmulbach said something had to be done soon be competitive.

"If you expect to be competitive nowadays, especially with all the new co-op teams and our recent number problems, we needed to do something," he said. "It's (the co-op) is going to give us a chance to improve and give the Williamsfield kids a chance to play a sport that hasn't been available to them for a long time."

Williamsfield last fielded a football team 50 years ago.

According to Schmulbach, the enrollment of the new Galva-Williamsfield co-op team would be around 257.

"That's still not a lot, especially when you consider A&R (AlWood/ROWVA) - our opening-week opponent - is 400 and something," Schmulbach said. "But it certainly helps us out and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm real excited."

Galva school board president Gary Edmonds said the merging of the two schools is a "great win for both Williamsfield and us.

"It's definitely going to help us in the long run," Edmonds said. "I know Williamsfield has some great athletes over there. They have had some real good basketball teams.

"And this gives their kids a chance to play football, something they haven't been able to for a long time," he added. "I know what I got out of playing football in high school so hopefully, it will help them as much as it did me."

When asked about the possibility of the two schools co-oping other sports, Edmonds said that "Nothing is on the table right now. Both schools want to see how the football co-op goes. But it certainly might open other doors."