Wisconsin to add 8-man football

[freeagent]

In news that will warm Ol' Bearkat's heart, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) decided to add eight-man football to their program starting in the 2012-2013 school year.

Schools with a three-year average enrollment of 200 or less are eligible to participate.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/138057383.html

(WIAA Assistant Director Wade) Labecki said there are eight schools ready to play eight-man football up north and eight more in the southern part of the state. He hopes "five or six" more schools join before the May 1 deadline. A two-year commitment is required and an end-of-the-year "jamboree" will be scheduled for those teams at a site to be determined.

 

[CowboyP]

That should bring a smile to OBK's face.

 

[Old Bearkat]

The average enrollment number is too high. It should be at least half that. Any school with 200 kids in it can easily field an 11 man squad with a JV. I do like the way Oregon plays 8 man ball - on a 100 yd field. Makes it more of a speed game.

 

[freeagent]

Just thought I'd post this to warm the cockles of OBK's heart ... oh, and to show the political correctness of the Green Bay Press Gazette (a paper I delivered in my youth) ... calling it "eight player football" ... says Wisconsin will have 16 teams playing this year, possibly 30 in a couple years.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/art ... RONTPAGE|p

 

[Old Bearkat]

It is nice to see that. The enrollment figures are still too high, but I guess there are too many wimps up there who don't play.......

 

[freeagent]

Just noticed in the Green Bay paper that Wisconsin just concluded its first season of 8-man ... oops, gotta be politically correct ... 8-player football under the WIAA (Wis. version of UIL), with Green Bay NE Wisconsin Lutheran winning the title (10-0) ... thought Ol' Bearkat would like ... my old HS (long since closed) used to play Elkhart Lake.

Top four teams from each of the two divisions (north and south) qualified for the end-of-season "Jamboree" near Wausau

Oakfield 47 Bowler/Gresham 46
Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah 22 Bruce 8
Gibraltar 46 Luck 38
Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran 26 Prairie Farm 20 (championship game)

From the WIAA website: The WIAA sponsored reduced-player football prior to the advent of the football playoff system in 1976. There were 78 schools that fielded reduced-player squads in the late 1950s, 72 of which were eight-player teams and six that were six-player. However, that number dwindled to just a few programs by 1969. (Note: the first Wisconsin state football championship game was actually in 1969, when the then-active Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Assn. (WISAA) played 11-man title games ... a school close to my home town, Manitowoc Roncalli, in its first or second year of football, won the title game in an upset. The public schools took several more years before starting a state title game, and the private schools joined the WIAA in 2000 when WISAA folded due to low membership.)

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/art ... ck_check=1