Public school teams that should be playing 8 man football

[Dan in Daytona]

25 minutes ago, nolebull813 said:

I don’t agree. Being on a team that is a punching bag for everyone else can’t be a great bonding experience. If the only thing you have in common is you both aren’t good at football then the bond won’t hold very long. Lol. 
 

i believe 25 kids bonding together while being successful is more productive than 50 kids getting their asses handed to them for a couple months. 
 

This would trim the fat and the other kids that aren’t meant to play can go find another extracurricular activity to partake in. This isn’t a charity. This is competition 

Clearly you were never in the military or in battle. I never went to war, but some of my best military memories were of shared hardships (cold/hot weather, physical exhaustion, sleep deprivation, nasty food, miserable duties) with fellow soldiers. Team sports are no different. We got closer the more difficult things were for us as a group...been there. 

[Ray Icaza]

11 hours ago, Perspective said:

Beek, you make some very good points and I greatly appreciate your 'perspective.' 

If I understand you correctly, you believe that once a program goes to 8-man, there's no chance they'll ever make it back to 11-man because anyone who's serious about playing the sport, simply won't come there to play.  I wonder if there are any examples of 8-man programs that have had success, made the switch to 11-man, and then had success in 11-man?  

Another "I wonder" question:  are there any examples of kids who play 8-man being recruited/offered scholarships? 

Just curious.  

 

I have no background in 8 man football so don't have solid data reflecting players in that league getting recruited.  What I do know that is factual, our current starting QB who is a senior went to a Christian school that is in an 8 man league.  His father felt he was talented enough to compete in 11 man and considered transferring to our team his sophomore year.  Obviously, we welcomed him but the assessment was that his chances of earning the starting job was slim as we had Chad Mascoe a junior at the time.   His family decided to let him continue at the Christian school instead of riding the bench here where he could at least continue to develop.  He completed his sophomore and junior years there and felt with Chad gone he could compete for the job with a 50-50 chance of earning the starting role.  He has been rotating for the first couple of games with Gunner but looks like they elevated him to the starting role in our game vs Lakeland.  He is a very good student, good grades and character with the desire to play somewhere at the next level.  The family's view was the only chance was to get out of 8-man ball and compete in 11-man.  So far, he has held his own and just needs more time with our receiving core.  Time will tell if his move pays dividends, but we can assume the family felt there was zero chance where he was. 

[nolebull813]

6 hours ago, Dan in Daytona said:

Clearly you were never in the military or in battle. I never went to war, but some of my best military memories were of shared hardships (cold/hot weather, physical exhaustion, sleep deprivation, nasty food, miserable duties) with fellow soldiers. Team sports are no different. We got closer the more difficult things were for us as a group...been there. 

Clearly I have not. I get camaraderie. But you don’t have to be someone’s punching bag to achieve it 

[SFLfootball]

11 man won’t work in South Florida. Kids will transfer more then they do already. Also, some of the schools mentioned like Northeast and Taravella have 3000 kids, JV programs and 30-40 man varsity rosters. They don’t 8 man football. They need freedom of scheduling. It’s already been discussed with a few of them going independent and creating a “league”. Just play each other and save week 9 and 10 for playoffs. That is what SSAC and others do. 
 

As for the smaller schools, a bunch of teams went independent years ago and only came back because FHSAA told them they could make their own schedule and no districts 1A-4A.  With the new metro class, these smaller schools in South Florida will start going independent again now that they are forced into districts. Some already have. Independent teams are allowed to form their own conferences and have a championship. They are still FHSAA members. SSAC teams are still FHSAA as their are more sports then football at these schools. They are also trying to expand South. The FHSAA will see these teams all leave over next year or so, realize the bad optics, and change something like they did last time. 

[Dan in Daytona]

4 hours ago, nolebull813 said:

Clearly I have not. I get camaraderie. But you don’t have to be someone’s punching bag to achieve it 

So there will be no punching bags in the 8 Man game ?  Unless Pine Ridge is playing a little religious school with 50 students, 25 of which are females they'll still be a doormat. Now if the next Travis Henry or Chris Rainey shows up on campus disregard everything I said. Those two would be unstoppable in 8 Man even with 7 female teammates.    

[nolebull813]

4 hours ago, Dan in Daytona said:

So there will be no punching bags in the 8 Man game ?  Unless Pine Ridge is playing a little religious school with 50 students, 25 of which are females they'll still be a doormat. Now if the next Travis Henry or Chris Rainey shows up on campus disregard everything I said. Those two would be unstoppable in 8 Man even with 7 female teammates.    

If I had 7 female teammates on a 8 man high school team I would be playing like Travis Henry or Chris Rainey 

[Dan in Daytona]

5 hours ago, nolebull813 said:

If I had 7 female teammates on a 8 man high school team I would be playing like Travis Henry or Chris Rainey 

Ahead of your anticipated final move to Appalachia, you could start an 8 Man senior team with 7 female teammates collected at the locale Walmart in Lake City. Your popularity is legendary there. Just think, the New "Fabio" of Columbia County.

 

[nolebull813]

4 hours ago, Dan in Daytona said:

Ahead of your anticipated final move to Appalachia, you could start an 8 Man senior team with 7 female teammates collected at the locale Walmart in Lake City. Your popularity is legendary there. Just think, the New "Fabio" of Columbia County.

 

That’s true. I would be homecoming king there! 

[Doubletight305]

8-man football will not help these programs. Good coaching and an emphasis on player development will. Many of those programs have enough kids to field a Varsity and JV but lack the organizational acumen to develop those kids. Watch most of those teams and you will teams with no offensive or defensive schemes - they just run incoherent plays and spend no time on fundamentals.

In South Florida the independent league for public schools is going on its 4th year. its been a 10 or 12 league team and they crown a champion every year. Dr. Krop won the title in 2019 and Goleman won back to back titles in '20 and '21.

Both those teams are now back in districts and are able to be competitive as well as other indy league alumni schools such as American and Westland. 

Goleman and Westland are two perennial losing programs that were able to turn it around and grow enough to be able to compete and send kids to colleges. Neither will ever win a state title, but they can now hold their own and have grown participation in their programs, regardless of demographics.

[KeemD321]

On 9/21/2022 at 9:37 AM, nolebull813 said:

And SSAC teams have jumped in and out of the state series as well. So you don’t have to be doomed forever to that league. If you start to be a power in the “public school SSAC” then you make the jump back to the state series in the new cycle. 
 

I think it works for everyone. It makes the state series more competitive with the cutting of classes, and it makes the new league more competitive because all the teams are on an even scale 

Cocoa Beach is part of the SSAC now