The Rotary Club of Warren met for their weekly meeting Tuesday, Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church. The club heard from Warren High School Junior Rotarian Emma Mann to start the program. Rotarian David Richey then presented his program of Hermitage High School Football Coach Chase Ellis. The Hermits play 8-man football instead of the traditional 11-man football. Coach Ellis began by talking about how 8-man football came to exist in Arkansas around four years ago. Steve Roberts of the Arkansas Activities Association attended a national conference that talked about the declining number of students playing football across the country. Hermitage along with Augusta were two of the first programs to begin the process of competing in 8-man football. The first season there were around eight schools who participated, and that number has increased every year. The sport is now sanctioned by the AAA for the 16 schools who have 2A and 1A enrollment numbers. There are another 10 or 12 schools who also play 8-man that are 3A or 4A schools, but they are not sanctioned by the AAA. The only difference in the field dimensions is that the field is not as wide across at 40 yards instead of the traditional 53 and 1/3 yards for an 11-man field. Coach Ellis also explained that you have to have five players on the line of scrimmage opposed to seven in 11-man football.
He went on to talk about the first year they competed in 8-man football they had an 11-man junior high team since numbers allowed and that it was hard to adjust to the differences in the width of the field for the coaches and also the players they moved up from the junior high squad later in the season. However, both the junior high and senior high play 8-man and both games are on Friday nights with junior high typically starting at 5 p.m. and senior high at 7 p.m. Some of the other schools competing in 8-man football include Woodlawn, Strong, Parkers Chapel, Dermott, Mountain Pine, Midland, Spring Hill, and Marvell-Elaine. The Hermits have 10 players out for football and play Woodlawn this Friday night before hosting Strong for Homecoming on Oct. 14. Coach Ellis touched on how important 8-man football has been for the school and the community as a way to allow student-athletes a chance to play Friday Night Football and how it allows them to still have a homecoming celebration, so it isn’t just the players that benefit from it. While it is very new to Arkansas, schools across the country have played 8-man football (along with 6-man and 9-man in some states) for a number of years. He concluded his program by answering a number of questions from the group, which was very curious about the 8-man game.
Top photo: Picture attached of Rotarian David Richey and Hermitage High School Football Coach Chase Ellis.