Eight-player high school football is growing in Wisconsin. Here’s how it works

UW-Oshkosh hosts a charity all-star game for eight-player football participants, sponsored by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, in July that raised money for Children’s Wisconsin.

Since the WIAA membership reinstated eight-player football in Wisconsin in 2012, participation has quadrupled, going from 16 teams that first year to 66 in the 2024 season.

The reduced-player game is mostly an option for smaller schools, allowing them to continue to play, and often be more competitive, while maintaining their identity by not becoming part of a co-op program or dropping football altogether.

Here’s a look at the game:

What is eight-player high school football?

The game is, as its name indicates, played with three fewer players per side than traditional football, a tweak that allows programs that otherwise might not have enough players to still compete.

An offense is limited to three interior lineman and has one fewer eligible receiver. Defenses operate with one fewer level of secondary.

Reduced-player football dates to the Great Depression, with the six-man game beginning in Nebraska in 1934.

Is a standard field used for eight-player football?

National rules call for a field 80 yards long instead of 100 and 140 feet wide rather than 160, but the WIAA permits an exception.

So in Wisconsin, 100 yards is considered the standard length – that avoids schools needing to move goal posts if they change from eight- to 11-player or vice versa – while fields are narrowed by 20 feet. A few Wisconsin teams do play on 80-yard fields, said Chad Schultz, an assistant director for the WIAA who oversees eight-player football.

When did eight-player football begin in Wisconsin?

Reduced-player football became an option for Wisconsin high schools in 1937 with a six-player version, and eight-player came along in shortly thereafter.

How many…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/eight-player-high-school-football-113057478.html

Author : Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-10-09 11:30:57

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