For one Kansas high school, the Friday Night Lights this fall will look drastically different. Wichita Independent will not field a varsity football team for the first time in program history.
But they will find other ways to make the fall season memorable for students at the school.
MORE: High school decides not to field a varsity football team this fall
According to a report by Kake.com, the school has created what they call "Panther Night Lights" to keep school spirit alive through the season. Instead of hosting football games, they will put together students vs. staff events including kickball, dodgeball, powderpuff and softball.
"(We were) just coming up with ideas of thinking what would be fun to still have everyone come out and just spend Friday nights together," Wichita Independent junior Ben Sackett said. "Obviously just to have a lot of fun for all tthe players."
Paul Druzinsky, Wichita Independent head of school, said that they had anywhere between 8-to-15 students out for football.
"In this day and age, you need a core group of players," he said, "and if you don't have at least 30, 40, 50 kids, that's really tough to field tackle football.
"We were worried about kids getting hurt and concussions, and we just didn't feel like it was the right thing to do right now for us, which is why we transitioned into Panther Night Lights."
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