The numbers speak for themselves. And what they're saying is pretty dismal.

Three Seattle high schools — Franklin, Garfield and Roosevelt — joined seven Eastside schools in the KingCo 4A Conference in 1997. Since then, the trio's cumulative record in league football games against their suburban brethren is 17-153.

Garfield is 7-51. Franklin and Roosevelt are both 5-51.

Ballard, which joined KingCo in 2002 and went to the state-title game in 2003, is 7-14 against Eastside schools, with no wins this year.

This season, the four city schools have won six games total, none against suburban schools. In games against each other, suburban schools have outscored city schools by an astounding margin — 669 to 144.

Why the startling disparity? And can anything be done about it?

People around the league point to many reasons. The two biggest are the lack of a strong junior football feeder program in the city and an imbalance in resources available to city and suburban schools.

In addition to losing season after losing season, the results include poor turnouts, frequent turnover of coaches, minimal community support and a culture of failure that has existed for almost a decade.

"At what point do you say, 'OK, this isn't working?' " asks Roosevelt's third-year coach, Jeff Ware. "You can't have your head in the sand forever on this thing. We've got to find out why we're losing and address the issue, and if it's impossible for us to compete, then we need to look for another option."

On a recent afternoon at Skyline High School in Sammamish, almost 300 kids between the third and eighth grades run through warm-ups on a large practice field as part of the Spartan Junior Football Association.

The kids, almost all of whom live within Skyline High School boundaries, are among 14 teams scattered across the field. They all wear white and green — Skyline's colors — as they count out jumping jacks, stretches and push-ups in cadence:

"S-P-A-R-T-A-N-S! Spartans!"

Skyline won a state championship in 2000 and lost in the title game last year. This year, the Spartans are ranked second in the state. The high-school players work on the same field as the youngsters.

"We know that we're training kids who are playing in [the high-school] program," says Steve Cox, who represents the association at meetings with other junior football leagues. "A lot of those kids who won that state championship, there are plenty of pictures of them playing youth football together."

Anthony Allen, Garfield's first-year co-head coach, considers his team: The starting center, right guard, right tackle, wide receiver — before he was injured — and kicker and punter had never played football before.

Ware has similar issues at Roosevelt. While he praises his tough senior class, many of his freshmen are new to football.

"We spend a lot of our practice time on getting the guys into the right stance, teaching them terminology," Ware says. "The guys coming into the Eastside schools, they know how to run the trap. They've known since the fourth or fifth grade."

They contend suburban coaches on the Eastside can spend practice time working on schemes or intricacies or tendencies, instead of reiterating tackling or other basics.

Seattle has feeder programs, but those kids scatter. They can pick which high school they attend, unlike the suburban programs that draw from within high-school boundaries. And much of the top talent in the city, after junior football, is plucked off by the private schools.

Meanwhile, as city-school coaches try to catch up, their teams are beaten up regularly on the field. Losing means low turnout and lack of depth. Resources can be meager. Franklin's practice field, where JV games are played, has only one goal post. Until this year, Garfield was still using some jerseys from the 1970s.

Morale suffers.

"The talent is in the hallways," Allen says. "But they just don't want to come out and play. They keep feeding into the fact they're no good. They say, 'Why should I play if we're going to lose?'

"The kids themselves beat each other up," he continues. "When you haven't won in 2 ½ years, you get beat down by your own friends, your own classmates, about being losers, or 'Garfield sucks.'

"You got to change the whole mentality of the school."

Ballard reached the title game with great talent and community support behind an energized coach who had convinced parents to keep their sons at the school. But after that 11-3 season, Ballard dropped to 5-4 last year and 2-6 this season.

Jack Thompson, legendary Washington State quarterback who was a Ballard assistant during its title-game run, says local businesses could help fund school football programs.

Others believe the four city schools should rejoin the Metro League, especially with the WIAA looking at realignment again. Natural geographic rivalries would be restored and games would be more competitive.

"It's hard for parents. What parents want to travel to Bothell?" asks Franklin coach Mario Bailey. "The kids don't know anybody in Bothell. Gas prices are up. They'd much rather go to West Seattle or Cleveland or Sealth, or down the street to play Rainier Beach. And then their whole family could go to the game."

But that probably won't happen, says Al Hairston, athletic director for Seattle Public Schools.

First, many coaches and parents would like to stay in KingCo because, in some sports, the competition is better in KingCo than in Metro. Particularly in basketball, in which Seattle schools traditionally have been state powers, they have more than held their own against suburban opponents.

"I think one mistake people make is just focusing on football," Hairston says. "The total athletic program is 10 to 12 sports. In a lot of the other sports, the Seattle schools do very well."

Hope hasn't died. Allen says many of the kids at Garfield have finally learned about discipline, about coming to practice every day. About a dozen freshmen are soaking up valuable varsity experience.

They tasted a little success last Friday night, when Garfield beat Franklin, the Bulldogs' first win in 20 games.

"It was just good to see smiles after a football game for the first time," Allen says.

Allen wants to stay in KingCo. He embraces the challenge.

"We're getting our butts kicked now, but I would rather stay exactly where we're at," Allen says. "We'll take that much more pride when we get this thing turned around."

Michael Ko: 206-515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com