I believe if numbers are down it had to do with soft parents, coaches who do not teach proper tackling and schools who do not have a good feeder system!
Alexandria of all schools was one of the worst 10-12 years ago. Got some good coaches in at the youth and high school level. Now an average size 2a school puts out 50-60 h.s. kids each year.
Do your proper homework before you write an article!