The Middle Park High School football season officially kicks off Friday, Aug. 29, but head coach Sam Campfield said his players have been training for months to prepare for what he called a “transitional” season for the developing team.

Following an announcement in the spring, Middle Park will not have a varsity football team this year. The decision was made due to concerns about player safety and roster size. East Grand School District Athletic Director Scotty Hicks told Sky-Hi News at the time that varsity often had to borrow JV players to field a full team. He noted that junior varsity players are typically young and inexperienced, which can create safety concerns when playing against other larger, more skilled varsity teams.

Despite the change, the Panthers will still play three varsity games this season in addition to junior-varsity matchups and a scrimmage.

“This is our group, and we’re preparing like we would for a varsity season,” Campfield said, expressing confidence in the decision to focus on growth and development in 2025. “In 2026, the plan is to have a full varsity schedule, and right now we are on that trajectory.”

At a Saturday, Aug. 16, open practice, the coach shared his enthusiasm with his group of 26 players, 12 of which are freshmen.

“I am fully excited about this group,” Campfield said. “We’re further along, schematically and physically, than I thought we were going to be.”

He admitted that he had concerns this summer about whether the team could develop at the pace he hoped for, but the players proved themselves up to the task.

“Even though football, at its core, is pretty simple, we dress it up with a lot of fancy schematics to try to help us block and tackle better, and our guys have picked them up really, really well,” he said.

The Panthers are slotted for 8 games this season, including varsity matchups with Pinnacle Charter School and Sheridan High School in September, as well as JV games with regional rivals like Steamboat. However, Campfield said the rivalry opener with Estes Park remains the highlight.

“There’s a reason people get excited for that one,” he said. “It’s important to let folks know the better side of Rocky Mountain National Park is this side.”