Booneville wasn’t the only football team to go undefeated this year.
Congratulations to the Bears of Woodlawn High School, the champions of eight-man football in Arkansas. The title is unofficial, of course, since eight-man football is not a sanctioned sport in Arkansas.
Not yet, anyway. But it could be in time for the next reclassification cycle, which begins in August 2020.
Eight-man teams took the field in Arkansas for the first time this season since the mid-1960s. Woodlawn, located between Rison and Star City in southeast Arkansas, went 9-0 this fall after it suffered a 1-6 start in 11-man football last season and was forced to forfeit its remaining games because of declining numbers.
Augusta, Arkansas Christian Academy (Bryant), Decatur, Little Rock Episcopal and Hermitage played home-and-home series against each other as club sports this year. Woodlawn rolled over the opposition after holding off Augusta 38-36 in the season opener in August.
“The kids were a little apprehensive about eight-man football, and it was a curiosity thing at first with our fans,” Woodlawn coach Neil Barbaree said. “But the kids came to love it, and they learned real quick eight-man football was no joke. It’s an exciting game with lots of scoring, and our stands were packed toward the end of the season.
“I think it’s going to catch on in Arkansas because it fits the small schools who’ve had trouble finding enough players to fill out a roster.”
The move toward eight-man football in Arkansas was initiated by Decatur, which won two games this season and just missed winning a third. Decatur High School principal and athletic director Toby Conrad described the experiment as a success and predicted eight-man football will move from club status to a sanctioned sport in 2020.
“It was amazing and one of the best things to happen with sports in Arkansas, in my opinion,” Conrad said. “Eight-man football is going to save football in a lot of small schools in Arkansas. I truly believe there’ll be 10-11 teams declaring for eight-man football next year and 20-22 teams that will at least show interest in playing eight-man football by 2020.”
Conrad and Barbaree both said they’ve been contacted by administrators or coaches from other schools about eight-man football, but they did not name the schools. Cedar Ridge canceled its last three games of the season, and Rose Bud played three nonconference games before declaring it would play a junior varsity schedule the rest of the season. Rose Bud went 0-10 in 2016 after forfeiting six games because of low numbers.
Western Yell County from the 2-4A Conference will discuss, among other topics, a possible move from 11-man to eight-man football during a regularly scheduled board meeting in January. The Wolverines went 2-7 last year and haven’t won more than four games in a season since the school started football in 2006.
Western Yell County, which finished 0-6 in conference play, began the season with 26 players and finished with 17.
“Nothing’s been decided,” Western Yell County coach Chris Morphis said. “We’re going to discuss it at the board meeting and weigh all the factors and independently do some research on eight-man football. But there’s no timetable. Ultimately, we’re going to do what’s best for the kids.”
Other Class 2A schools struggling with low numbers will do the same during the offseason. No one is certain how many eight-man teams will take the field in August in Arkansas. But there is no question eight-man football is fun and competitive for the players and exciting for the fans.
Just like 11-man football.
“It was a lot more enjoyable,” said Seth Coleman, a junior receiver and cornerback for Decatur this season. “It was different than 11-man football. Everyone had more chances to play, and it was much faster, for sure.”
Rick Fires can be reached at rfires@ nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARick.