12 or less

[FCSA football]

How many teams started this season with 12 or less players. We started with 11, now have 10. It would be also be interesting to see how many teams that started with 12 players or less, just how many players they have when they finish the regular season.
Just curious.........

 

[CoachJJ]

Wichita Christian

We have 12 boys and 7 returners

 

[FCSA football]

When you see 11 man teams moving to 6 man and then 6 man teams unable to field a team because they don’t have enough kids you have to wonder Why?
Harold, a 6 man tradition since the beginning didn’t field a team again this year, Morton, Claude, Leakey all moving from 11 to six man. In 2009 Brenham Christian Academy was TAPPS runner up, in 2010 they won it all, with 16 kids.
By 2013, they were gone from 6 man football for ever. Unfortunately not an exception but possibly the beginning of a long term trend?
As much as we all love 6 man, how long before our 12, 11 or 10 becomes 5 or less?
Leman——jump in here!

 

[Old Bearkat]

Everyone is moving to the cities and the rural folks left are not having big families any more. This is happening all over the nation.

 

[True Shot]

As Bearkat stated the rural schools are getting smaller and the legislature is not giving any new money to the schools. The only way little schools can survive is to increase enrollment, and that's hard to do. I remember years back when Blackwell only had 6 boys. They played an entire season with 6, I believe. What a testament to those kids and Coach Cook!

 

[Leman Saunders]

I think this says more about specific areas of the state than anything else. This is a very debatable topic with many moving parts involved and should be looked at case by case basis instead of lumping all these together and then looking for some pattern.

With out question there is a trend in the Harrold, Benjamin, Rule, Paint Creek area of the state that dates back to Weinert, O'Brien, Rochester, Hobbs, McCaulley and even farther back to Oklaunion and so on.

But we all know that small schools enrollments fluctuate and some others are just in a down year or two.

Things like coaches, parents, teachers, admin, attitudes and culture (a hot topic with coaches these days) plays into some of these cases...if you have had a different HC for four straight years...ya it is going to be harder to get kids out to play football (or any other sport) for example.

Short answer is they should be looked at school by school and then see if there might be some sort of broader things that can be drawn from it all. Example we should ask why is participation low? Are there just no kids? Are kids transfering to other schools and if so why? These are the basic first questions that should be asked and answered first I think.

That is my quick response to this very complicated topic.

 

[Leman Saunders]

I have always kind of looked at who has less than 10 players as my measure...

If there are any Sociology Graduate students out there looking for a topic for a thesis paper here is a good one!

 

[Johnny South]

This topic is mostly related to our government’s cheap food policy. When the small to medium sized farms and ranches can not make even the most basic living for their families, the rural, agricultural based towns and schools die out. The survivors are in the areas of energy production, or depend on transfers from nearby larger towns. IMHO

 

[USMC55!]

Lingleville started with 11, and with injuries and waiting for UIL to approve waivers we will be playing tomorrow night with 8 players!

 

[FCSA football]

Ok Leman, here is something else to add to someone’s theory and thesis. How many kids that WANT to play football are being told “NO” by their mama’s ? I’ve had many in that situation. Many more in recent years than in the past, that includes this year.
Now Hear This! If you haven’t yet read UNC’s Coach Fedora speach “ Football under Attack”, I recommend it highly. Like the song says “Mama’s” don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys” (or football players either for that matter”.
Just saying.........

 

[txhsfb]

Based on observation from the games last night, looks like Sugarland Logos Prep has 11 players on the sidelines. 1 was not suited. 10 were suited.

 

[bavery]

Loop has 11 boys in HS, 8 are out for football, one of those 8 will not be eligible until the 5th game. We will suit 7 out tonight.

 

[Old Bearkat]

This topic is mostly related to our government’s cheap food policy. When the small to medium sized farms and ranches can not make even the most basic living for their families, the rural, agricultural based towns and schools die out. The survivors are in the areas of energy production, or depend on transfers from nearby larger towns. IMHO

Actually, it has more to do with agricultural automation than anything else. Farms are getting bigger as one or two men can take care of an acreage that in past years would require 4 to 8 men. That is a trend that started after WW2 and continues to this day. The present wave of it started in the ate 1990's which is why Garden City experienced a big enrollment drop by 2002. They held steady at 110-120 for many years, then started falling as the farmers in St. Lawrence started letting hands go and many kids did not stay around any more to farm.

 

[FCSA football]

Started with 11, then 10, now 9. How about you?

 

[Deleted member 21909]

I posted twice, sorry, and cannot figure out on to delete iton my phone.

 

[Deleted member 21909]

Everyone is moving to the cities and the rural folks left are not having big families any more. This is happening all over the nation.

Not to brag in the slightest but I have a maste's degree in history. While in grad school, I tried to write a paper about sixman football and even talked to Mr. Sanders a bit. I changed my topic to the impact of the Interstate because I saw the obvious correlation between economic growth and an interstate coming through a town.

While Mr. Sanders is right in the academic sense that every region is different, I think Old Bearcat's explanation holds a great deal of truth.

Here what I see happening:

1. Many sixman schools in the west will close down only to be replaced by schools that play 11-man right now. Leakey, Bronte, and Menard are good examples of this.

2. There will be more sixman schools in the east in areas without economic vialibity. Chester and High Island are good examples of this.

3. Many of the sixman schools in that I-35 corridor between Ft. Worth and Waco will grow and play 11-man; I hate to say it, but they can only keep development out for so long. I am not going to give examples of this one, but there are quite a few.

4. Private schools may become the dominant division within sixman football. People will make more money if they continue to move to cities. Large public schools are often not the ideal place to send your kids, so we may see more privatization of schools (our legislature wants that as well.)

I do not mean this to insult anyone as I understand the local concerns about the school closing down; Heck, my high school isn't looking great numbers wise, and it is weird to think I played against a high school that no longer exists. Unfortunately, I think it is reality for sixman football.

 

[FCSA football]

Well thought out and precisely presented ideas and opinion. For a confirmation of the impact of Interstate Highways one only needs to watch the original ”Cars” movie and listen to several songs on the sound track.
“Our Town” in particular. Significant economic development in other categories can do the same. Our sleeply little 1A school that I attended is a 5 A school now as a result of new industries moving in. The future of Sixman may very well depend on those trying to escape the growth and others moving back “home”.

 

[BigFan22]

The Interstate killed a lot of Route 66 towns. A lot 6 man towns were never “booming” towns to begin with, and the economic instability of agriculture is only serving to kill what remnants of townsfolk are left oftentimes. Cities will grow, while the small towns will all eventually die. I’m seeing it happen all the time. I know that sucks to think about, but it is reality.

 

[Deleted member 21909]

The Interstate killed a lot of Route 66 towns. A lot 6 man towns were never “booming” towns to begin with, and the economic instability of agriculture is only serving to kill what remnants of townsfolk are left oftentimes. Cities will grow, while the small towns will all eventually die. I’m seeing it happen all the time. I know that sucks to think about, but it is reality.

My whole argument was that the interstate picked winners and losers which your statement supports as well.

In academia, your often forced to write things the seem obvious and not broaden your thesis; with that said, however, Sanderson is the best example of a town that the Interstate destroyed.

Sanderson had about 5,000 people around the 1960s and is now one of the smallest schools in Texas. Interstate 10 was built about 90 miles north of the town which redirected traffic between El Paso and San Antonio.

While no one really goes to Sanderson without a reason, they have a proud culture and often talk about their 11man rivalries with schools like Iraan and Rankin; the former is almost unbelievable since Iraan is like 3A.

Sanderson is a really unique place; Democrats cited Sanderson as an example of the hardship placed on people by the Texas voter I.D. laws because someone from Sanderson would have to drive 130 miles round trip to obtain an I.D. from the DMV in Ft. Stockton, TX.

 

[Old Bearkat]

Democrats cited Sanderson as an example of the hardship placed on people by the Texas voter I.D. laws because someone from Sanderson would have to drive 130 miles round trip to obtain an I.D. from the DMV in Ft. Stockton, TX.

Tough patooties I say. Voter ID is too important to put any credence on what a democrat says about it. The folks in Sanderson still have to make the same drive to get a driver's license or even groceries for that matter.