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Several Teams Forfeit Games Against Washington High School Football Team Over 'Size Disparity'

GRANITE FALLS, Wash. (CBSNewYork) -- Several teams have forfeited games against a Washington state high school football team over safety concerns because of the size disparity of the players.

KING-TV reports three teams have refused to play Everett's Archbishop Murphy – a private Catholic school – they fear their players would get seriously hurt.

"It's not that we're afraid to play the game, it's an injury issue, because of the size disparity between the linemen," Granite Falls head coach Tim Dennis told KING. "They have 300-pound linemen, and we have sophomores that [weigh] 210, 220 pounds and starting on varsity. So that's the issue, is the size disparity."

According to Max Preps, Archbishop Murphy has one player that weighs 330 pounds, while another weights 300. They also have two others players that weigh 290 and 288 pounds, respectively.

"My son is 5-foot-8 and weighs 117 pounds and just got out of middle school and just turned 14. They've got 18-year-old players that are 6-foot-5 and weigh 330 pounds," Stacey McBride, a mother of a Granite Falls player, told KING. "I mean, that's like putting a Volkswagen bug against a mack truck."

McBride son her son was afraid of getting hurt.

"I've said from the very beginning that there's no way I'm going to let my son play these guys," she continued. "He said, 'Mom, I'll get killed.' Why would I even put myself in that position?"

KING reports that it was the Granite Falls players deciding as a team not to play Archbishop Murphy.

Archbishop Murphy have outscored their opponents 170-0 so far this season.

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