Bland County High School will be unable to complete its varsity football schedule for the third time in the last four seasons because of a lack of available players.

School Athletic Director Kirby Mustard said the small VHSL Class 1 team's roster dropped to as few as 12 players in the wake of last Friday's 47-6 loss to Rye Cove.

"I don't know an exact number but it was below 13," Mustard said Thursday. "We started off the season with low numbers, had a few injuries, then we had some players who left the team earlier this week."

The Bears began fall practice with 23 players. They lost the Aug. 26 season opener with a 20-14 loss to Craig County but canceled their Sept. 2 home opener against Narrows, citing low roster numbers.

Beginning with Friday's scheduled game at Rural Retreat, the program has canceled the rest of its 2022 games: Eastern Montgomery on Sept. 23, Castlewood on Sept. 30, Grundy on Oct. 7, Auburn on Oct. 14, Roanoke Catholic on Oct. 28 and Smith Mountain Lake Christian on Nov. 4.

Bland County has joined Twin Valley on the sidelines as VHSL teams that canceled their season after playing at least one game.

Struggling to find enough players to field a team is nothing new at Bland County, which had an enrollment of 211 students in grades 9-11 in the March 31 Average Daily Membership numbers that the VHSL uses to form its six classifications.

Nineteen VHSL Class 1 schools that play football have a lower ADM than Bland County.

Bland County did not field a football team in 2019 and the 2021 season was halted after the Bears played seven games.

The school played the maximum six regular-season games allowed in 2020 under the VHSL's COVID-19 scheduling limitations.

While the Bears do not have a junior varsity or middle school football program, Mustard said Bland County plans to play varsity football in 2023.

"We have every intention of having a team next year," Mustard said.

"Come springtime we usually have a meeting to see where our numbers are."

Bland County elected not to play a full schedule of Mountain Empire District opponents for the second year in a row, a move which would have made the Bears ineligible for a Region 1C playoff bid regardless of their record.

Auburn was the only MED on Bland's schedule this year.

Mustard said Bland probably will line up a similar schedule full of non-district teams in 2023.

"We knew that our numbers were going to be low, that we would have to fight to win some of these games," Mustard said. "We did not think it would end up like this."