An open book on 8-man football in Hillsdale County
If there’s any predominant local sentiment about eight-man football since it was approved as an MHSAA sanctioned sport for 2009 a little less than a month ago — it’s definitely a wait-and-see approach.
I wouldn’t say the athletic directors I’ve talked to would call eight-man football the newest four letter word, but to say they are even lukewarm about considering it for their own programs would be like telling you I work for a large metropolitan paper.
Coaches and ADs seemed open to the idea last year when conversations about eight-man football were swirling around meetings and in MHSAA press releases, but now that it’s officially going to be an option all I keep hearing is that the idea in general is good for small schools, "but maybe not ours".
The truth is I’m still forming an opinion about the viability of the sport in Class D schools throughout the county, but to have an informed conversation or debate about a different variation of Friday Night Lights, everyone needs to be enlightened about what this rising sport is all about and who it’s really for.
First and foremost, the name is self explanatory. Eight-man football takes three players off the field on each side of the ball, traditionally two offensive linemen and a skill player on offense and two defensive backs and a defensive linemen on the other side of the ball.
Fields are still 100 yards in length, but trimmed from 53 1/3 yards to 40 yards in width, to compensate for less players covering the open space.
Coaches from states like Nebraska and Texas, which continue to expand their eight-man football membership pools, say the game is very fast-paced and agility and acceleration often trump weight and sheer strength.
For the 2009-10 academic year only Class D schools will be eligible to implement eight-man football, meaning schools of less than 223 students according to the 2008-09 standards.
[caption id="attachment_760" align="alignright" width="300" caption="An example of what a play might look like in the 8-man game."]
In Hillsdale County that means that Waldron (131 students), Litchfield (132), North Adams-Jerome (149) and Camden-Frontier (155) would qualify, while Pittsford (224) was one student over this past school year.
While some schools in the state, especially a handful in the "thumb" and Upper Peninsula, already have eight-man contests scheduled for the upcoming season, MHSAA playoffs for the sport won’t take flight until 2010.
The MHSAA has indicated that if 20-39 schools take up the sport it will hold a 16-team playoff and if 40-64 eight-man teams pop up then a 32-team playoff will take place.
With the basics outlined, there are dozens of questions already filtering through my mind. Questions that I will seek to find answers to over the next few months and questions that area schools must proactively consider.
My initial reaction is that county residents are often resistant to any sort of change from the status quo and 11-man football is all they know. Most fans grew up playing it, it has always been the style of the beloved pro and college games and "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."
I understand that, but lets consider a few things.
