In 2014, the Cheyenne Mountain football team was forced to forfeit the final two games of the regular season with just 13 active players on its roster.

Now four years later, the Indians will again forfeit a contest due to low numbers. Cheyenne Mountain was scheduled to travel to D-20 Stadium on Saturday to play No. 2 Pine Creek in a 4A Southern opener.

But thankfully for Cheyenne Mountain, the school told the community that the team hopes take the field again during Week 8 as the team is set to host Vista Ridge on Oct. 13.

“Our hope is that next week potentially brings the return of more players who are injured or ineligible, resulting in our having an appropriate number of varsity players for participating in the subsequent contests on our schedule,” Cheyenne Mountain athletic director Kris Roberts said in a letter to football parents.

A report by CHSAANow states that roster numbers dipped this week due to academics, eligibility and injuries. Cheyenne Mountain has 52 players listed on its MaxPreps roster.

“Part of participating is making sure the high school experience is positive and safe,” Roberts told CHSAANow. “And in order to ensure that with the limited number of participants, we made the best decision on behalf of our kids and school community.”

According to a letter sent by Roberts on Wednesday, two other Colorado football programs were forced to forfeit varsity games due to similar circumstances this week for their homecoming contests. In an attempt to support the other programs, Cheyenne Mountain and Pine Creek will play sub-varsity games Friday against the affected schools.

Cheyenne Mountain’s sub-varsity will travel to Clear Creek on Friday for a prime-time homecoming game.

In Monday’s letter, Roberts stated that Cheyenne Mountain and Pine Creek had planned to continue their sub-varsity game Saturday as scheduled.

“Mr. Hulen, the athletic director at Pine Creek, and I discussed the potential of forgoing the currently scheduled sub-varsity football contest between our two schools,” Roberts said in Wednesday’s letter. “We decided that partnering to support our member schools allows the impacted schools the opportunity to participate in a contest.”

Cheyenne Mountain is 1-4 after falling to Widefield last week 35-20.

Pine Creek, on the other hand, is 4-1 and ranked No. 2 in Class 4A and No. 7 in Colorado. The Eagles had a bye last week.