Eight-Man Football Growing In Wisconsin

Amid enrollment issues and shrinking player pools, more and more Wisconsin high schools are opting for one of two choices when it comes to the football season.

One option would be to hook up with a neighboring school district and form a co-op team. I usually look over the long list of state football scores during the high school season (thank you, internet gods!) and have noticed many two-school, and even some three-school, co-ops. I've long thought that my alma mater, the Wautoma Hornets, and the up-the-road Wild Rose Wildcats would be a perfect co-op marriage.

The other option is one that is one that seems to be growing across the state, especially so among schools from the central part of Wisconsin north. That's eight-man football, a sport played by over 60 schools this past fall, with Wausau Newman Catholic winning the state title with a 54-0 thrashing of Belmont.

The eight-man game is played on an 80-yard field with five players on the offensive line -- two guards and a center with either two tight-ends on the outside or split out at wide receiver.

My college roomie, Beer Baron Darrell, notes that the eight-man format is very popular around his digs an hour north of Minoqua. Lots of small school districts, some struggling just to stay open.

With less student pools to pull from, and apparently a shrinking interest in playing football among school-age kids, the evolution of high school football seems to be upon us.

R.I.P to a friend. Saw in the UW-Oshkosh alumni news letter that Jay Van Thiel had passed at the age of 73. Jay was coach of the Oshkosh North girls' basketball team while I was covering sports in the Fox Valley. He was a good friend that I often stopped by to see when in the school, and someone I hung around with from time to time at state tournaments.

Good guy, and gone too soon.

The local media has been Johnny on the spot in reporting which UW Badger football players have entered the transfer portal or high school recruits who had de-committed from their scholarship -- all pretty much since the coaching changes.

Wisconsin fans would be just as interested, or more, in the number of Cincinnati Bearcats (new head coach Luke Fickell's old team) who have entered the transfer portal. Or recruits who have de-committed.

Also wondering how Fickell will recruit now that he's at a school with, let's face it, a pretty high academic bar.