The Times Are Changing: Eight Man Football League To Form In Ohio

[Omega]

Are we seeing the future of Ohio small school football unfold before us with that future being eight man football? Will the OHSAA be far behind in sanctioning and establishing rules for the smaller numbers game? Will this be the answer to keeping football alive at numerous schools in Southeast Ohio? Then again given cost and player safety issues, should programs teetering on the brink with low participation numbers simply bite the bullet and drop football? From the Toledo Blade:


Officials from four area schools that have committed to playing eight-man football in 2020 will meet at Toledo Christian High School Thursday at 10 a.m. to take the next step in the evolution of that version of the sport in Ohio.

Toledo Christian and Holgate, which are in the middle of their first season playing the eight-man game, will be joined by Stryker and Danbury, which may suspend their 11-man football programs in favor of eight-man football next season.

“We’re trying to establish all the rules and everything we want going forward,” Toledo Christian athletic director Tim Wensink said of the meeting. “We want to create a league for northwest Ohio teams, and we want to settle on things like field dimensions and length of games. Right now, the games are running a bit long, and we want to speed them up.”

Wensink, who along with Eagles football coach Andrew Skeels was instrumental in launching the first season of Ohio teams playing eight-man schedules, said they want to be proactive in organizing the next season to avoid the last-minute rush they experienced in putting together a 2019 schedule.

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/high ... 0191001138

[Beergogglebluez]

I’m glad there doing something to keep football going. With smart phones, video games and kids having soft skin I expect numbers to keep going down. Just no interest like years past.

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

I think this is a good thing.
It could get more schools playing and in the long run get some of the schools struggling with numbers a taste of winning some game and then that might lead to better numbers. With better numbers some of these teams will be able to move back to eleven man football. I see it as a win, win all the way around.

[Ground Buck]

Will the OHSAA be far behind in sanctioning and establishing rules for the smaller numbers game? /quote]/quote]





If there's money to be made off of this you can bet your paycheck the OHSAA will try their damnedest to take it over.

[VetteMan]

I think this is a good thing.
It could get more schools playing and in the long run get some of the schools struggling with numbers a taste of winning some game and then that might lead to better numbers. With better numbers some of these teams will be able to move back to eleven man football. I see it as a win, win all the way around.

I agree, it could very well be what some schools in Southern and Southeastern Ohio will be considering before long also.

[Raider6309]

TVC Hocking and SOC might go to this

[GoIrish]

The population isn't growing enough to sustain 11 man football in smaller schools. There are other factors influencing football as well. Growing soccer programs, kids who feel like they should focus on one sport all year, and an increase of medical knowledge regarding the dangers of football are all contributing factors. Long gone are the days where so many kids were 3 sport varsity athletes. Nowadays, many kids are encouraged to play AAU basketball or travel baseball all year long, and football suffers for it. When you ask known athletes why they don't play football, the answer is often "My parents don't want me to, it's too dangerous" or "I don't want to get hurt for basketball season." Travel sports have somehow become a cash cow, with program leaders convincing parents that their kid will get a full ride to play baseball if they fully dedicate themselves to the sport all year long.

While watching the ESPN NFL pregame yesterday, they did a feature on Leighton Vander Esch, linebacker for "Dem Boyz." I had no idea he was a product of high school 8 man football in Idaho. It shouldn't be looked down upon if we want the sport to survive.

[greygoose]

The population isn't growing enough to sustain 11 man football in smaller schools. There are other factors influencing football as well. Growing soccer programs, kids who feel like they should focus on one sport all year, and an increase of medical knowledge regarding the dangers of football are all contributing factors. Long gone are the days where so many kids were 3 sport varsity athletes. Nowadays, many kids are encouraged to play AAU basketball or travel baseball all year long, and football suffers for it. When you ask known athletes why they don't play football, the answer is often "My parents don't want me to, it's too dangerous" or "I don't want to get hurt for basketball season." Travel sports have somehow become a cash cow, with program leaders convincing parents that their kid will get a full ride to play baseball if they fully dedicate themselves to the sport all year long.

While watching the ESPN NFL pregame yesterday, they did a feature on Leighton Vander Esch, linebacker for "Dem Boyz." I had no idea he was a product of high school 8 man football in Idaho. It shouldn't be looked down upon if we want the sport to survive.

Yep and the dudes graduating class was 11. Not 11 boys, 11 total.

[mattash]

speaking of small numbers, what about St. Joe being one of the smallest schools in SEO and having soccer and volleyball going at the same time

[formerfcfan]

I don’t see an 8-man league coming around to this part of the state anytime soon. Maybe not for another 5-6 years. It’s going to largely depend on what schools talk to each other and say “yes, let’s try to make it happen by committing to it.” Right now the only one that is remotely close is Zanesville Rosecrans. And right now it’s playing out... not that great for them. Their record (2-2) aside, they ate the two-straight byes early on and all of their road games are 2.5-3 hours away. 13 players, five seniors. They’re having difficulty marketing the sport of 8-man and making it relevant to the base from which they draw kids in. Not being able to get any of their MSL peers with similar numbers issues (FCA, GCC) to bite and dip their toes didn’t help, and their MSL peer who shut down their 11-man program (Millersport) isn’t even entertaining 8-man.

The schools that would be the best candidates for 8-man, eg the small privates in their league and the general Columbus area, have said they won’t do 8-man and only want to do 11-man. And, the problem there is the belief that them transitioning to 8-man will just cause them to lose kids to nearby schools to play “actual [11-man] football.”

All this to say that geography and the general reluctance to get more proximal opponents on the bus for 8-man is going to cause difficulty in it getting started down here.

[formerfcfan]

In fact, I think Rosecrans will just end up dissolving their football program altogether in the next 2-3 years.

[eagles73Taylor]

The population of the state is declining, look for consolidations in our lifetime!

[thebarlowbandit]

The population of the state is declining, look for consolidations in our lifetime!

We need another round of consolidation, many areas are not much larger than when the last round of consolidation hit.

[itsme]

Meigs must be trying 8 man Football. The last Athens PAT they only had 8 on defense
But you never know They try 12, 11, 10 and 8 last night