Sean Dengler. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON

Recently, I received the North Tama Telegraph with articles on various high school football teams in the coverage area. While it reminded me of the times I was never covered by the newspaper despite being the best field goal holder in the state and the best backside wide receiver to grace Dennis Field, it illustrated how high school football kids have never changed. Trying to look as mean and tough as ever in the photographs.

What stood out more than the kids were the other schools who were in North Tama’s district. The schools they compete against now were all 1A schools back in my day. These schools were always bigger than us. When I graduated in 2010, it felt like we were one of the bigger class A schools. Unfortunately, North Tama is the smallest school playing eleven-man football in Iowa. The Redhawks are also smaller than many eight-man teams across the Hawkeye state. Size is not everything, but it is harder to compete with less depth.

This is not about whether North Tama needs to drop to eight man the next time redistricting rolls around nor about what offensive and defensive strategies could help the Redhawks on the gridiron. This will be left up to the administrators and coaches, but it is about realizing who North Tama plays now versus who we played when I was on the field trying not to get hit. Schools all around the state are shrinking. Some of the schools I played are eight-man, share sports with other schools, or consolidated with another school. I did not do in-depth reporting, but I am positive none of these schools drastically grew over the last 14 years.

People will say this has always been the way, and there is nothing that can change this fact. I do not believe this is entirely true. It is important to look at the policies at the state and federal level which have been put in place to cause this reaction. When agricultural policies force farmers to get big or get out which also leads to land consolidation as well as agricultural business consolidating, it has led to less diversity of livestock and crops on the land throughout the Hawkeye State. With less diversity, farmers are put into a powerless dynamic of the big agricultural companies at play in this state. The farmers take on more risk while these corporations and out of state landowners extract more wealth from rural companies. This continues the downward trajectory of bigger farms and less people working on the beautiful soil.

Less farmers mean less small business which means less rural schools. The state government by not even keeping up with inflation when funding public schools – not to mention using taxpayer dollars earmarked for public schools to help pay private school tuition for students – is only hurting these rural schools more. Who in rural Iowa is succeeding under this current situation? It does not seem to be the towns, the schools, or most farmers.

Vice President Kamala Harris nor President Joe Biden is going to save us. Everything is so nationalized today, but it is more important to look at what local politicians are doing whether they have an R or a D next to their name. It might be worth reevaluating those individuals or parties who have been elected for many years, and asking the tough question: Have our communities improved by electing people of the same card year after year? If your next thought as to why you cannot vote for the other card is based in fear, it might be time to check your own bias.

A bull in a China shop is not going to help rural Iowa. Rural communities need to come together to hold local politicians accountable and send those to the statehouse who are not selling out to the large agriculture businesses or interest groups who are hollowing out rural Iowa. Politicians should not get a free pass no matter what party they represent. Otherwise, we get where we are because of who we vote for. It is that simple.

If you still do not like the options, then do something. Do not sit in the cheap seats. Step up and show out before there is no football team left in your community.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.