BERNE — The superintendent, a former football coach, pumped his fist after the school board here voted unanimously on Monday night to fund half of a team.

Whether the team becomes a reality depends on the Duanesburg School Board.

“Our hope is a three-year agreement for stability,” said Superintendent Timothy Mundell to the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board.

Expenses for 2015-16 would be capped at $25,000. The Duanesburg Booster Club would sell the team helmets, pads, and practice equipment at reduced cost, Mundell said.

After the first year, the cost would go down, he said, figuring on $15,000 per year for a season with $4,000 for replacing equipment, on a cycle, totaling $19,000.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo last had its own football team in 1951.

In recent years, the Schoharie and Duanesburg districts formed a team, called Schoburg, which BKW then joined. After that, Schoharie, which had coordinated spending for the program and had acted as its home field, faced a large budget gap and backed out of the program.

On Feb. 23, the Duanesburg School Board voted against funding a football program for next year. Four board members — Michael Jackson, Mara Burns, Christina Loukides, and Tina Gamache — voted against it and three board members — Kent Sanders, Dick Felton, and Bob Fiorini — voted for it, according to the board’s president, Sanders.

“I was taken by surprise; I expected it to pass,” Sanders told The Enterprise. “A lot of people put time and effort into getting the football program going,” he said.

He surmised that some may have been discouraged with the team’s performance. “We played at the C level,” Sanders said. “Other teams would have twice as many kids suited up. Ours would be exhausted,” he said.

Sanders said, if there were to be a team next year, it would play at the D level, against smaller schools, and be more competitive.

Gamache, the board’s vice president, asked for the reasons she opposed the measure, declined comment, stating, “Only the board president can talk to the media; that’s our procedure.”

“I understand there’s a groundswell of parents,” Sanders said, who may attend the next Duanesburg board meeting, on March 8, hoping to swing the vote of at least one school board member.

Mundell encouraged football supporters from BKW to attend the March 8 Duanesburg meeting as well.

This year, he said, BKW spent $7,700 on the program. Eight seventh- and eighth-graders from BKW played, and BKW also had eight varsity team members, according to Joan Adriance, the BKW board president. Duanesburg fielded 13 varsity players and 12 seventh- and eighth-grade players.

“We won’t have enough bodies without Duanesburg,” said Annette Landry, BKW’s athletic director.

Adriance said football gave “academically challenged” students “something to strive for.

“You get to be aggressive and not get in trouble for it,” Adriance said.

She also said, “If Duanesburg does not approve, it’s a no…We couldn’t run a program by ourselves.”

Mundell said participation tends to increase if a program is successful. He said the team of seventh- and eighth-graders was undefeated, winning six games.

If the matter passes in Duanesburg, Adriance said, “It becomes our athletic program…It would have a new name, new uniforms.”

If Duanesburg does not have a revote passing the measure, board member Matthew Tedeschi asked if the team could continue with just booster club support.

“I would not recommend going in that direction,” said Mundell.

Helen Lounsbury, a former board member and retired BKW teacher, asked from the gallery if injuries like concussions posed a danger. Landry said that one out-of-district student had had a concussion in the past football season.

“The coaches have been trained in concussions and all that stuff,’ said Adriance.

Both BKW and Duanesburg have ImPACT (Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing), which is a software program that tests cognitive functioning in athletes before a sports season begins. If an athlete suffers a head injury, he must pass his initial assessment before playing again.

“The plan includes an athletic trainer at every game,” said Mundell, adding he was pushing to have a trainer at practices, too.

After all five BKW board members voted in favor of supporting a football team, Adriance said, “Now all the football parents…need to get over to Duanesburg.”