Four games into their schedule, the season is over for the Bogota High School football team.

School officials made the decision to cancel any further games following their last game when the roster was reduced to 17 players due to injuries.

The premature end to the Bogota Buccaneer's season, means the new football field at the 50 yard line, won’t be used again for football until next year. Meanwhile, seniors will miss out on playing anymore games within their high school career.

The Bogota athletic director Brian Appleton released a statement saying, “This was an extremely difficult decision, but with our roster numbers reaching a point where we could no longer safely field a team, we felt it was the necessary decision.”

It is a challenge for smaller districts to field teams each year. Bogota’s enrollment is 475 students. Some larger districts have senior classes that are that size. Generally, it takes about 30 players to man a football roster.

Losing out on a full season is one of the reasons some schools consider merging with other districts.

Meanwhile, members of the Bogota Football Alumni released a message of support for the players saying “A piece of us hurts knowing Bogota always put together great teams with small rosters,. We would like to thank the 2026 Bogota Bucs for having the courage to play when others chose not to.”