The Brentwood and Clayton School Districts have forged a football partnership for each district’s high school for the 2023-2024 school year. While technically called a “cooperative sponsorship,” the move is essentially a merger of the football programs at both Brentwood High School and Clayton High School and provides a solution for two football programs that have seen a decline in participation in recent years. The cooperative sponsorship was recently approved by each school district’s Board of Education. The combined programs will be able to field both varsity and junior varsity (JV) teams, providing players with valuable opportunities to play and progress at the proper pace for their individual skill levels. Increased numbers at both levels of play will allow inexperienced players to develop at the JV level and keep varsity players from having to play an entire game on both offense and defense due to low numbers.

All planning and football-related activities will be handled together by both high schools and their respective athletic departments. Here are some initial details about the combined program:

• The new football program will practice at Gay Field in Clayton.

• The team will split their home games between Brentwood and Clayton.

• The combined football team will remain in Class 4 and compete in the Suburban Conference.

• The team will wear blue/orange uniforms with both Clayton and Brentwood on the jerseys and a custom Brentwood/Clayton logo on the helmet.
  
  

Both schools’ athletic departments will be working to iron out additional details in the coming months. The new football program will officially start practicing in August.