FOOTBALL NUMBERS TAKE

Millis football coach Dana Olson doesn’t need to see the official reports to know that the number of players suiting up for football is dropping.

One look at his roster is all the proof he needs.

When the Mohawks trot onto the field against Holliston tonight, Olson’s defending Division 4A Super Bowl champions will be dressing just 28 players.

It isn’t just Millis. Statewide, amid growing concussion fears, high school football rosters have seen a 10-year decline, while soccer and cross-country participation are climbing.

The number of boys playing football dropped for the ninth time in 10 seasons last year, Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association statistics show. From 22,169 players who suited up in 2006, there has been dramatic drop of more than 3,200, or 14.7 percent, with just 18,913 playing last year.

During that same period, soccer enrollment has shot up 7.1 percent to 14,031 last year, while crosscountry has spiked by a staggering 23.9 percent, to 7,051.

High school football participation is falling nationally, but Massachusetts is leading the trend away from the contact sport. Across the country, the number of players fell 2.5 percent year over year last season and it’s down 4.5 percent since 2006, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

The number of schools offering football in Massachusetts has remained steady since 2006. But in New Jersey this summer, low participation numbers led at least three schools to suspend their varsity teams.

Coaches say they believe the mounting evidence linking football and head injuries to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has scared some families to the point where they are steering kids toward other sports.

“I’m sure people are worried about the safety thing,” Olson said. “We had seven kids who played football last year deciding to play golf this year. For a program that has 90-100 kids, they might not feel the bump of losing seven kids, but it is big for a school like ours with just 170 boys.”

Lexington athletic director Naomi Martin certainly understands the dilemma. Her son, Tyler, is an eighth-grader at Buckingham Browne & Nichols with visions of playing football at the varsity level in the not-too-distant future. She has the same parental concerns, but also doesn’t want to limit her son.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about Tyler getting hurt,” Martin said. “My husband and I have talked about this at home with Tyler. I would hate to tell him he can’t do something he loves