While high school football remains the most popular sport among California high school boys, participation continues to decline by thousands each year.

About 12,000 fewer boys played 11-man football last year than in 2015 — an 11.8% decrease — according to the annual high school sports census released Thursday by the California Interscholastic Federation.

The last four seasons, participation among boys has dropped by about 3,000 players each year. No other sport is close in terms of the number of players it loses each year statewide.

North State coaches have taken notice. They say factors like rising costs, increasing specialization among young athletes and of course, safety concerns, are driving the decline.

Explaining the decline

At U-Prep in Redding, varsity coach Darren Trueblood said he's trying to add more players to his roster as the season approaches its Aug. 30 season-opener. The varsity and junior varsity teams have about 55 total players so far, about five players shy of where a school of that size would want to be, he said.

Trueblood understands parents' safety concerns; his own son is headed into his senior season on the team. So Trueblood tries to minimize hitting in practice as much as he can while still preparing his players for games.

And as more headlines about concussions creep into news coverage, teams like Trueblood's are responding with science of their own, working to implement specialized "InSite" helmets from Riddell.

The helmets have a sensor pad on the inside which measures the force of a hit. If the force exceeds a certain threshold, the helmet sends an alert to a monitoring device for team staff.

Trueblood said the innovation makes it easier for coaches to keep an eye on kids' safety, and he aims to have all of his varsity players using the helmets by the start of the season.

The link with youth football

A second factor potentially leading to the decline in participation is rising specialization among youth athletes, Trueblood said. Kids and their parents appear less interested in being a jack of all trades, and more interested in youth athletes focusing on a specific sport to increase chances of earning a college scholarship.

That's the case for the Alex Osuna, a Foothill student who has more or less left behind wrestling and track to focus on football, his father, Charlie Osuna, said.

The elder Osuna has been involved in Shasta County youth football for the last 20 years at multiple levels as a coach, administrator and parent. He was once second-in-command for the Northern California Federation for Youth Football before the organization recently folded, leading most local youth teams to join the Sacramento-area alternative.

The change means that youth football players in Shasta County are now under a larger administrative umbrella, and Osuna said some parents have to spend more to sign their kids up — "The cost to play is skyrocketing." But even when some local youth teams waived fees, the participation problem didn't disappear.

To Osuna, the decline in high school participation starts at the youth level. At one point, his organization tried to set up a way for kindergarten-age kids to play, to keep soccer from soaking up the talent.

But unless high school coaches make more of an effort to boost youth teams, Osuna said the participation decline will likely continue. If not, when those coaches try to field their high school teams, they'd be left with an emaciated talent pool. Osuna heard at least one program was struggling so much with recruiting that staff went to a local park and tried to convince random kids to sign up.

In the CIF census report, executive director Ron Nocetti addressed the decline.

“As in previous years, we have noticed a steady and continued decrease in football participants," he said. "It is imperative that we continue to partner with organizations such as USA Football and their Football Development Model which provides a road map for how we coach, play and learn the game at every level.”

As of last season, about 91,305 high school boys were still playing 11-man football in California. Meanwhile, girls' participation in high school football has increased 150.2% since 2015, though with smaller overall numbers. Last year, 593 high school girls played 11-man football, according to the census report.

New law emphasizes safety

The day before the sports census was released, California enacted Assembly Bill 1, which establishes further safety standards for youth football.

The bill bans offseason, full-contact practices for youth teams and limits inseason full-contact practices for those teams to no more than 30 minutes per day, for no more than two days per week.

It also requires concussion education, coach training, injury tackling protocols, a medical professional to be present for all games and an independent person to attend all practices with the authority to remove players who appear injured.

The bill will take effect Jan. 1, 2021, according to a news release from Assemblyman Jim Cooper of Elk Grove.

“The California Youth Football Act represents a new era for youth tackle football, with a focus on safety and performance, that will pave the way for future generations of Americans to continue benefiting from the sport,” Joe Rafter, President of the California Youth Football Alliance, said in the release.

Correction: Boys 11-man football participation had a slight increase in 2015-2016, meaning the sport's participation has declined for four, not five, years in a row.

More:Foothill's female linebacker tackles the status quo

More:Lions All-Star Football Game: 3 takeaways from the 2019 North vs. South showdown

More:West Valley's Bailey Sulzer will play Division I football, but not before a 2-year mission trip

Matt Brannon covers Redding-area sports for the Record Searchlight. Follow him on Twitter @MattBrannon_RS. Support local coverage and keep up with the North State sports scene for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today.