Time to clear something up.

With the success of Butler's boys track and field team this season — and most every season — many folks are continuing to question why the Golden Tornado football team cannot field a winning team. After all, there are great athletes in that school.

Clearly.

Butler's track team could not succeed the way it does without having great athletes.

So why don't some of those track standouts in the spring join the football team and become gridiron standouts in the fall?

Simply put, it's not that simple.

While there is a team concept to track and field, it is largely an individual sport. It is individual sprinters, hurdlers, throwers, jumpers, etc., competing against other individuals.

Football is the ultimate team game. At the high school level, it's kids accustomed to playing together by learning a system together and consistently executing that system.

Mars is a prime example of that.

Certainly, if a few of these stellar track athletes slid over to football, they could become effective complementary pieces. To expect them to become more than that, especially if they haven't played organized football since their Butler Area Midget Football League days, if at all, would be a little much.

When it comes to football, Butler's trend has been getting players to come out for the team as sophomores or juniors, after not playing for a few years, and trying to develop into viable contributors. By the time that happens, most of those guys are near the end of their senior seasons.

While the BAMFL has been experiencing success in the United Youth Football League — getting one or more teams to the UYFL Super Bowl annually over the past few years — Butler football at the high school level continues to lose out in the numbers game.

Most kids in this town stop playing football when their BAMFL days are over. They move on to other sports or other activities. Only a handful of BAMFL plauers wind up playing junior high football the following season. Butler will not be fielding a freshman team this fall because of a lack of numbers.

Freshman football is a critical step in the maturation process. It gives kids that age a fuill season of getting on the field and aids in making the transition from youth football to high school.

Very few freshmen are able to contruibute to a varsity football team. It is so much better for them to have their own team, but the numbers have to be there to make that possible.

Last season, maybe four Butler football seniors played every season from Midget ball through high school. Compare that to other high school football programs and that number is probably tripled, if not more.

Yes, Butler has an outstanding track and field program.

Yes, Butler has athletes.

But football players are developed through years of playing, learning and growing within the sport.

The BAMFL is doing everything in its power to build its numbers and increase the possibility of many of those kids continuing to play straight through high school.

Hopefully, those numbers will have such staying power.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle