The first time I heard about 8-man high school football I can admit that I immediately had a negative reaction. It’s the normal response for most people when you are faced with changing something that you love.

I’m sure it’s how most people reacted when they added the designated hitter in baseball or the 3-point shot in basketball back in the day.

While it may be the normal reaction to be negative about a major change to one of your favorite sports, that doesn’t mean it’s right — and I admit that I was wrong about 8-man football.

The smallest high schools in Maine are struggling to survive when it comes to football. It’s a fact that it’s getting tougher and tougher for the small programs to get enough kids to come out for the sport and last the entire season.

One reason why football programs have lower numbers than in the previous decades is the addition of more sports in schools. Some schools didn’t have soccer or golf or cross country back in the day, which certainly helped football maintain large numbers.

It’s also a fact that participation in high school athletics is down across all sports — and football has not been immune to that trend.

I’m sure that some people will disagree with this column and say football should stay the same no matter what. But the question you need to ask if you are part of a smaller school district is would you rather have 8-man football or the possibility of having no football program at all if this trend continues?

I would suggest that people do some research on 8-man football before making up your mind. When I looked up some information on the growing sport I found out that it’s basically the same as traditional 11-man football — and it actually may be a more exciting brand of football.

The basics of 8-man football are you lose both offensive tackle positions and have just two guards and a center. Instead of having to have seven players on the line of scrimmage, you will have five with the three lineman and most times a tight end and a receiver.

There are currently more than 30 states with 8-man football teams, including three states with more than 100 high schools competing in the new format.

I love the game of football and it doesn’t get much better than going to a high school game on a Friday night. There will always be high school football at the larger schools, but there is a serious danger of the sport being relegated to memories in smaller towns.

I know that I would much rather go cover an 8-man football game than be forced to drive by an empty stadium talking about the good old days.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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