It doesn’t seem to work out mathematically, but Lewisville Coach Will Mitchell says having his JV team play eight-man football will allow him to get more players on the field than playing regular 11-man football.
When the South Carolina High School League eliminated the eight-quarter rule (which allowed football players to take part in JV and varsity games in a single week), it forced coaches to make some difficult decisions. Many Class A schools only carry 20 or 30 players in grades 9-12, so those coaches could either completely gut their varsity rosters of any depth and keep JV programs going, or they could simply fold JV teams and have everyone play varsity. Many took the latter approach, but Mitchell pursued some middle ground last season, fielding a “B” team comprised of seventh, eighth and ninth graders (leaving sophomores, juniors and seniors to play varsity football). The team played a limited schedule and young players did get some needed experience. Mitchell doesn’t want to go that route this year because a fairly large and talented group of students will be present at the middle school this year and he wants them playing together on a middle school only team. In terms of pure numbers, he will have technically have enough freshmen bodies alone (14 or 15) to field a standalone JV team, with 10th-12th graders playing varsity. This is where overall numbers play a big role, however. The Lions were moved up to the AA classification this school year but are by far the smallest school in their region and one of the smallest in AA overall. “It’s not really feasible to play an 11-man game at this level with 14 kids. I can’t go play Pageland or somebody who will have 40 or so kids on JV with 14. That’s a recipe for kids getting hurt,” Mitchell said. Those freshmen could just play varsity football, but Mitchell said the playing time of eight to 10 of them would be very limited. To develop as players, though, those young athletes need to be on the field getting real-game snaps. “Nobody’s getting better on the bench,” Mitchell said. That’s when Mitchell decided to explore the possibility of having his JV team play some eight-man football. The Lions JV has one full 11-man game scheduled (against Legion) but that is on the varsity’s off week, meaning 10th graders will be able to participate that week. A lack of numbers would be less of an issue playing eight-man ball, particularly if he was able to schedule games against schools of similar size, Mitchell figured. It would also eliminate one of the primary problems faced with small rosters, which is a lack of linemen, since only three are needed to field an offense in the eight-man game. The only hitch to the plan is that Mitchell has never played in or even watched an eight-man football game before. So, he went about educating himself in the manner most people do when exploring a new concept. “I’ve watched some games on YouTube now,” Mitchell said. Not many public schools in South Carolina play eight-man football (there is actually an eight-man division of SCISA in this state) but it is fairly common in the Midwest and Southwest. It is sometimes played on more narrow fields (40 yards wide) to accommodate six fewer total players and reduce the amount of ground that has to be covered by eight defenders. Some play on a regulation field, which Mitchell said leads to very high-scoring games. “It can be a struggle for the defense, but my preference would be to play on a full field,” he said. Most of the rules are similar to the 11-man game, but there are a few differences. Eight-man football requires five players to be on the line of scrimmage. There is a center and two guards, but many teams opt to have a tight end lined up outside of those guards. They are eligible receivers, but at that point it looks like a traditional five-man line (though that leaves only three skill players including the quarterback). The same wide-open spread philosophies that now populate 11-man high school football are also present in eight-man, with some teams employing multiple receiver sets. Defensive looks run the gamut from 3-2-3 to 4-1-3 and 4-3-1. Mitchell said he would like to allow free punts and not have kickoffs in the eight-man games, with offenses simply starting possessions at the 30 after scores. Mitchell has lined up an eight-man preseason scrimmage and has found “two or three” schools willing to do an in-season home-and-home. He’d like to find some more opponents for this year, though. “We don’t mind traveling. I just want to get our younger kids more playing time,” he said. That is entirely the point. While it is somewhat unconventional in this area, eight-man football will get Lewisville’s freshmen real snaps in real games and help them prepare to contribute at the varsity level faster. “It’s a way to get more kids on the field playing more football.”
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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