Shrine Bowl is last stand for Maddock football

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Andy Backstrom has memories of many of the scratches and paint marks on the navy-blue football helmet.

There's one from a game against Napoleon, another mark from Tri-County, a third that came against North Central Benson. It's a color-oriented system.

"They were from guys who I was in on tackles," Backstrom said. "I don't remember the hits so much as I do the colors the teams were wearing."

Backstrom is in Grand Forks with the 9-man West football team, preparing for the annual North Dakota Shrine Bowl that will be held Saturday at the Alerus Center. And for the 2009 Maddock High School graduate, the Shrine 9-man game will be the last time anyone will wear the dark-blue Maddock helmet with the gold face mask in a game.

Backstrom is the lone Maddock player in the Shrine Bowl. And the football program no longer exists on its own — declining enrollment and participation numbers led Maddock to form a co-op with North Central Benson that will start this fall. The team will be the Benson County Wildcats.

Being the last Bobcat on the football field is something that has struck Backstrom on more than one occasion.

"When I got here, and sometimes when we've been practicing, I've thought about being the last one to play (from the Bobcats program)," Backstrom said. "It's special to me.

"It's almost like the end of a tradition, of football at Maddock. I feel good to be representing Maddock. But it's kind of sad to see the program go down. It's the end of the uniform and the Bobcats."

Backstrom knows of the tradition. He points out that twice in the past 10 seasons, Maddock has played in the 9-man state championship game. He remembers Maddock as a perennial playoff participant.

Maddock's last playoff appearance was a loss to Central Valley in 2006 to end a 7-3 season. The team was 2-7 when Backstrom was a junior and went 4-5 last season.

"It was a rebuilding year in 2007. So was last year," Backstrom said. "It was the numbers. We only had like 15 or 16 guys on the team at the end of last season. That makes it tough to practice. It was a good time to co-op with somebody."

The Maddock players knew during the season that there was a good possibility the Bobcats were in their last season as a separate entity. "It was a little extra incentive to make the playoffs. We tried as hard as we could," Backstrom said.

Joining a new co-op doesn't make Maddock unique. New or expanding co-ops have become a more frequent happening as the trend of declining school enrollments continues.

"We're seeing less and less football teams in the state every year," said West 9-man coach Tim Schaffer, the head coach of the Williams County team that was formed when Ray and Tioga joined in a football co-op in 2002. "It's tough to keep a program going when you don't have the numbers. Sometimes it's something you almost have to do — it's not fair to younger kids in a small program when you have to put them out on the field against older kids."

Schaffer said Backstrom is a good athlete who could be used in a number of ways on the Shrine team — as a wide receiver, a tight end, an outside linebacker, a kicker and a punter.

Wherever he plays, Backstrom will feel a sense of finality. He has fond memories of Maddock football. He already has his high school jersey. Backstrom is hoping for one more keepsake.

"I hope I can keep the helmet," Backstrom said. "I grew up with Bobcats football. It would be a reminder that I was the last Bobcat to play football."

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