read the full article on Texas Monthly.com
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/expectations-realities-six-man-football-small-town-texas/
The Expectations and Realities of Six-Man Football in Small-Town Texas
by Jeff Miller
On the football field, one team went from six to eleven. Another went from eleven to six. And both faced challenges they didn’t expect.
On the afternoon of August 31, New Home School football players had just rallied to edge out the cheerleaders in a team hula-hoop competition when junior Riley Stokes—dressed as a leopard—grabbed a cordless microphone. It was the first pep rally of the 2018 season, and the crowd of students, teachers, and families didn’t need much coaxing to cheer. “The Leopards are starting a new season!” Stokes yelled, bending her knees and waving her free arm with a mascot’s trademark excitement. “And now, they’re playing eleven-man football!” The gym burst into cheers.
A few hours later, New Home sent eleven Leopards onto a football field for the first time since 1982. For more than three decades, the town of a little more than 350—located about 20 miles south of Lubbock—has been represented by a six-man football team, the University Interscholastic League’s special concession to its smallest schools......
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/expectations-realities-six-man-football-small-town-texas/
The Expectations and Realities of Six-Man Football in Small-Town Texas
by Jeff Miller
On the football field, one team went from six to eleven. Another went from eleven to six. And both faced challenges they didn’t expect.
On the afternoon of August 31, New Home School football players had just rallied to edge out the cheerleaders in a team hula-hoop competition when junior Riley Stokes—dressed as a leopard—grabbed a cordless microphone. It was the first pep rally of the 2018 season, and the crowd of students, teachers, and families didn’t need much coaxing to cheer. “The Leopards are starting a new season!” Stokes yelled, bending her knees and waving her free arm with a mascot’s trademark excitement. “And now, they’re playing eleven-man football!” The gym burst into cheers.
A few hours later, New Home sent eleven Leopards onto a football field for the first time since 1982. For more than three decades, the town of a little more than 350—located about 20 miles south of Lubbock—has been represented by a six-man football team, the University Interscholastic League’s special concession to its smallest schools......
