There is no doubt the writer cast six-man in a more negative light during his own commentary. However, I thought most everything in the article from those involved in the program was refreshingly positive for six-man. Clearly the boys like the new game they are playing and they even got the head coach to make a few positive comments about the sport he was not planning to coach. They even got the boy who was going to transfer to stay.
After reading the article I couldn't help but feel sorry for White Deer though. These boys are coming out of a 1-19 past couple of seasons full of hope, hope that their school's "dropping down" to six-man will give them a chance to compete and succeed. I truly hope they can and wish them the best, but that schedule is brutal. And I cringed when I read that the coach thinks he can be "unconventional" and bring his 11-man ideas to the game. (What is the over/under on number of weeks/seasons a new coach must go to realize six-man is a completely different sport and that they MUST learn new schemes that account for a completely different pace, play timing, defensive schemes, etc.?) That will certainly not help matters. I just hope the community's view of six-man football won't be tainted by the poundings they may receive during their brutal independent schedule. Actually, I have more faith that the community's opinion of six-man may change when they witness the mercy some of these teams take on the White Deer team. Whether they know it or not, the best part of moving "down to six-man" is that they get to be a part of the best community of competitors they will ever know.
