[Tica]

By your metrics, Murray should have made it and they didn't. Here's another factor, how many schools still playing are within 15-20 miles of a state line?

Most kids have a car or have a friend with one. If someone wants to play football, they will play football. They don't have to harness up the mule and plow the back 30 anymore. Truth be told, kids want nice things and lots of them prefer to work rather than participate in athletics, more so in poorer regions of the state.