8-Man - Lets Revisit This Topic Again Because...Why Not

Leman Saunders

Leman Saunders

Six-man expert
Supporter
I know there are folks out there that want to see the return of 8-man (Im not one of them). The topic gets thrown around every so often and even some of those 1A 11man schools have talked about it and played a few JV 8man games in recent years.
For those interested here are some 8-man game films from back in the day (more on the channel if you search for 8-man:

1963 Bi-District: Jayton v Forsan

1971 Regional: Nueces Canyon v Borden County

1974 Semi-Final: La Pryor v Harrold

1975 Semi-Final: Leakey v Harrold

1998 Gordon, TX v Powers, OR - Game half 6man and half 8man
 
Never heard of Kidder County in CO - I think you meant ND - 9man has never been played in CO.

In Colorado, the cutoffs used to be 1-75 (6-man); 76-125 (8-man); 125+ (11-man). Not sure what the cutoffs are now, but 6-man & 8-man schools have both increased in the state in the last 20 years or so in the rural areas. However travel is an big issue, and would be even bigger in TX.

8-man is more of the 11-man style of game than 6-man. 6-man wasn't intended for schools with enrollments over 100.
 
This year our Junior High was required to play eleven man games with only 15 players by a decision made last year by our school board. We had to play six man games to have a full schedule. We were competitive in the eleven man games and won most of our six man games.

During the six man part of the season we played B Team games. For the eleven man part of the season, we had a very short bench and the B Team players had to be on the field.

An 8 man season would have been ideal for what we had with a mix of big line players and very quick smaller players while having a decent bench. Big slow players often get left of the field in six man games especially on defense. Those same players can contribute to both eleven and eight man teams on both sides of the ball.

Furthermore, I believe that having an eight man division in the UIL for schools that have 95.5 to 150 students would be beneficial.
 
coach_jshelton said:
Never heard of Kidder County in CO - I think you meant ND - 9man has never been played in CO.

In Colorado, the cutoffs used to be 1-75 (6-man); 76-125 (8-man); 125+ (11-man). Not sure what the cutoffs are now, but 6-man & 8-man schools have both increased in the state in the last 20 years or so in the rural areas. However travel is an big issue, and would be even bigger in TX.

8-man is more of the 11-man style of game than 6-man. 6-man wasn't intended for schools with enrollments over 100.
Click to expand...

Yes, North Dakota. Not sure what made me type Colorado! I drove down there from Bismarck, where I ran a marathon there the next morning.
 
I may have said this before, but my folks owned a motel in Leakey in the 70's and early 80's. And though we didn't live there we would drive down to watch them play. Watched them beat Follett in 75 for the last 8-man championship. Ironically my wife is from Shattuck Oklahoma where they are an 8-man powerhouse. Something like 91 and 77 game win streaks, 5 state championship in a row. Couple of more championships scattered in there somewhere.
 
OK, I'll finally bite on this one. Everyone knows I like 8 man since I played it when I was in high school at GC. Travel will be a bear for the ones who go. let's suppose the UIL decides below 75 is 6 man, 75 to 110 8 man and above 110 11 man. Based on the latest enrollment figures, here's the schools that would have to go 8 man. A total of 65. Some would have an easy district, some would not. It would blow a big hole in the 6 man numbers and probably cause a lot of schools both 6 and 8 man to consider dropping football.

Abbott - 82
Aquilla - 101
Avalon - 83
Baird - 89
Nueces Canyon - 75
Benavides - 83 (11 man)
Blum - 101
Booker - 106 (11 man)
Boys Ranch - 104 (11 man)
Bruni - 101 (11 man)
Bryson - 81
Burkeville - 76
Campbell - 91
Chester - 75
Clarkesville - 107 (11 man)
Claude - 90
Coolidge - 77
Covington - 86
Crosbyton - 100 (11 man)
Cross Plains - 100.5 (11 man)
D'Hanis - 101 (11 man)
Eden - 83
Electra - 94 (11 man)
Union Hill - 88
Garden City - 82
Gorman - 80
Happy - 95
Buena Vista - 80
Ira - 83
Iraan - 86
Jonesboro - 87
Kress - 81
Leakey - 97
Lingleville - 92
Lometa - 83
Marfa - 94
May - 82
McDade - 78
Meadow - 86
Medina - 80
Menard - 86
Meridian - 100 (11 man)
Mertzon - 89
Morton - 97
O'Donnell - 92
Perrin-Whitt - 96
Petersburg - 77
Pettus - 103 (11 man)
Rankin - 95
Ranger - 108
Robert Lee - 76
Roby - 84
Rocksprings - 81 (11 man)
St. Jo - 99
Santa Anna - 97
Savoy - 76
Springlake-Earth - 91
Spur - 91
Sterling City - 107 (11 man)
Midland TLC - 110 (11 man)
Van Horn - 88
Veribest - 77
Water Valley - 105 (11 man)
Westbrook - 84
Whiteface - 88
 
coach_jshelton said:
Never heard of Kidder County in CO - I think you meant ND - 9man has never been played in CO.

In Colorado, the cutoffs used to be 1-75 (6-man); 76-125 (8-man); 125+ (11-man). Not sure what the cutoffs are now, but 6-man & 8-man schools have both increased in the state in the last 20 years or so in the rural areas. However travel is an big issue, and would be even bigger in TX.

8-man is more of the 11-man style of game than 6-man. 6-man wasn't intended for schools with enrollments over 100.
Click to expand...
Leman Saunders said:
I know there are folks out there that want to see the return of 8-man (Im not one of them). The topic gets thrown around every so often and even some of those 1A 11man schools have talked about it and played a few JV 8man games in recent years.
For those interested here are some 8-man game films from back in the day (more on the channel if you search for 8-man:

1963 Bi-District: Jayton v Forsan

1971 Regional: Nueces Canyon v Borden County

1974 Semi-Final: La Pryor v Harrold

1975 Semi-Final: Leakey v Harrold

1998 Gordon, TX v Powers, OR - Game half 6man and half 8man
Click to expand...
If this were done as an option for the smallest of 2A schools it would be a good bridge maybe to eventually make the move to sixman. Those bubble schools trying to compete with schools that have enrollments almost 100% larger. I would not be in favor of those now eligible for sixman competition converting to 8 man. The only reason we still have a Class A sixman division is the number of schools involved. During the late 70's and early 80's the legislature (in concert with the UIL) did everything in their power to shrink the funding of small rural schools to force consolidations. We lost some great schools with great traditions during that period. We need to keep the current numbers up and even expand them. Strength in numbers. When it comes to doling out education dollars politicians will always lean to bigger schools.
 
8 man can either be a speed game like 6 man or a power game more like 11 man depending on which size field you play on. If you play on a 40X80 field, it is more of a power game. If you play on a 50X100 field, speed becomes more dominant. I think the Oklahoma 8 man teams play on a 50X100 field.
 
Old Bearkat said:
OK, I'll finally bite on this one. Everyone knows I like 8 man since I played it when I was in high school at GC. Travel will be a bear for the ones who go. let's suppose the UIL decides below 75 is 6 man, 75 to 110 8 man and above 110 11 man. Based on the latest enrollment figures, here's the schools that would have to go 8 man. A total of 65. Some would have an easy district, some would not. It would blow a big hole in the 6 man numbers and probably cause a lot of schools both 6 and 8 man to consider dropping football.

Abbott - 82
Aquilla - 101
Avalon - 83
Baird - 89
Nueces Canyon - 75
Benavides - 83 (11 man)
Blum - 101
Booker - 106 (11 man)
Boys Ranch - 104 (11 man)
Bruni - 101 (11 man)
Bryson - 81
Burkeville - 76
Campbell - 91
Chester - 75
Clarkesville - 107 (11 man)
Claude - 90
Coolidge - 77
Covington - 86
Crosbyton - 100 (11 man)
Cross Plains - 100.5 (11 man)
D'Hanis - 101 (11 man)
Eden - 83
Electra - 94 (11 man)
Union Hill - 88
Garden City - 82
Gorman - 80
Happy - 95
Buena Vista - 80
Ira - 83
Iraan - 86
Jonesboro - 87
Kress - 81
Leakey - 97
Lingleville - 92
Lometa - 83
Marfa - 94
May - 82
McDade - 78
Meadow - 86
Medina - 80
Menard - 86
Meridian - 100 (11 man)
Mertzon - 89
Morton - 97
O'Donnell - 92
Perrin-Whitt - 96
Petersburg - 77
Pettus - 103 (11 man)
Rankin - 95
Ranger - 108
Robert Lee - 76
Roby - 84
Rocksprings - 81 (11 man)
St. Jo - 99
Santa Anna - 97
Savoy - 76
Springlake-Earth - 91
Spur - 91
Sterling City - 107 (11 man)
Midland TLC - 110 (11 man)
Van Horn - 88
Veribest - 77
Water Valley - 105 (11 man)
Westbrook - 84
Whiteface - 88
Click to expand...
Bearcat. I think 8man would fit nicely for those 11man schools who are getting tired of having their brains beat out on the big field by the likes of say Albany for instance. I'm totally against resurrecting it if it has any effect on 6man as currently structured. We already have two 6man divisions. i don't know why it would hurt anything for 2A to have two divisions as they currently do but with one being 8man. I'd like to see the enrollments range from 106-160, about the same spread as D1 6man has as far as gap or enrollment differential. Assuming a 50/50 male/female student population some schools would have enough to have a JV and maybe even a freshman team. the larger a school is the less the overall population is involved directly in athletics, so some schools would be varsity only for sure.
 
justlookin' said:
If this were done as an option for the smallest of 2A schools it would be a good bridge maybe to eventually make the move to sixman. Those bubble schools trying to compete with schools that have enrollments almost 100% larger. I would not be in favor of those now eligible for sixman competition converting to 8 man. The only reason we still have a Class A sixman division is the number of schools involved. During the late 70's and early 80's the legislature (in concert with the UIL) did everything in their power to shrink the funding of small rural schools to force consolidations. We lost some great schools with great traditions during that period. We need to keep the current numbers up and even expand them. Strength in numbers. When it comes to doling out education dollars politicians will always lean to bigger schools.
Click to expand...
Very reasonable and needed. We are 2A and turned in 115 last year. We are now down to 102 students now competing against schools that can have 2.5 times the students. We only have 20 boys in athletics and barely finished the season with 15 boys on the roster playing outlaw Sixman. I believe that we would have had more boys playing football if an Eight man schedule in the UIL had been available.

Playing outlaw is not very appealing to the students. We have 56 7th and 8th grade students, but, only 15 boys played football in the middle school and we played 3 Eleven man games as mandated by the board. We were competitive, but, had much more success in the Sixman games we played.

An Eightman schedule would have worked for both programs. We have a lot of bigger kids that do not fit very well into the faster paced Sixman game, but, could contribute to an Eight man team.
 
justlookin' said:
If this were done as an option for the smallest of 2A schools it would be a good bridge maybe to eventually make the move to sixman. Those bubble schools trying to compete with schools that have enrollments almost 100% larger. I would not be in favor of those now eligible for sixman competition converting to 8 man. The only reason we still have a Class A sixman division is the number of schools involved. During the late 70's and early 80's the legislature (in concert with the UIL) did everything in their power to shrink the funding of small rural schools to force consolidations. We lost some great schools with great traditions during that period. We need to keep the current numbers up and even expand them. Strength in numbers. When it comes to doling out education dollars politicians will always lean to bigger schools.
Click to expand...
Robinhood laws ruin and have forced countless consolidations for multiple communities across the state. 6man could be it's own entity without robinhood, and 8man. Its Texas, the UIL is already talking about a 7A! We just dont need anymore teams going to the playoffs other than the district champs and runner-up. These small districts have made scheduling harder and also 3 team districts are a joke. You win 1 game and you're in the playoffs if you win one district game. Personally would love to see 6man and 8 man in Texas
 
8man wont come back...if you can play 6man you should...but schools like Ft Hancock and coach Duncans here it seems are the ones falling behind and that are in that 106-115 range... what needs to be done IMO is raise the 1a cut off to 115 and get them off that bubble bc there arent enough schools in that zone to warrant bring 8man back and gutting 6man. We are talking about less than 25 schools?
 
Stargirl13 said:
Robinhood laws ruin and have forced countless consolidations for multiple communities across the state. 6man could be it's own entity without robinhood, and 8man. Its Texas, the UIL is already talking about a 7A! We just dont need anymore teams going to the playoffs other than the district champs and runner-up. These small districts have made scheduling harder and also 3 team districts are a joke. You win 1 game and you're in the playoffs if you win one district game. Personally would love to see 6man and 8 man in Texas
Click to expand...
I am not against 8 man at all, just not in favor of diluting the political clout these small schools have now gained through their increasing numbers.
 
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