6 or 8-man FB for H-LHF?
There’s plenty of room on the sidelines at Humphrey-Lindsay Holy Family football games.
Fewer students are playing football for the co-oped Bulldogs, meaning school officials will have to decide whether to continue to play 8-man football or drop down to 6-man next season.
Next season, there are projected to be a total of 20 boys in grades 9-12 in both schools projected to participate in football out of 47 who could play.
Those participation numbers for the current 2017 season are as follows:
Ninth grade: 5
10th grade: 2
11th grade: 4
12th grade: 9
Humphrey Public School Superintendent Greg Sjuts said the two school boards will look at player safety and playoff eligibility.
“We’ll do what is best for the students,” he said. “We’re going to talk about all options. If we stay at 8-man that’s going to give our students the chance to be eligible for the playoffs, but our participation numbers are going to be down.”
There will be 10 freshmen next year, who, if they all go out for football, likely will be forced into action, but would boost the participation figure.
“When you have to play freshmen against seniors you put them in a situation that they may not be as successful as if they were a junior or a senior,” Sjuts said. “Ultimately, you hate to see freshmen put into a situation in which they may not be able to compete. You like to have them play in those JV games, which is where they should be playing.”
If the schools decide to play 6-man football, they will not be eligible for the state playoffs because the total combined enrollment for boys is greater than 27 students.
Humphrey and LHF are not experiencing students quitting the sport, but rather they never start.
Sjuts said many students do not want to risk injury because of the growing awareness of concussions and long-term brain injuries.
“I think that’s a piece of it. I think the physicality of the
has turned some kids off. I think they’ve seen some kids over time that have had knee injuries and other types of injuries from football. If you don’t like the physical play, you’re not going to like football. I think parents are very concerned about the head injuries. They’re hearing more about it, reading more about, and everything they’re hearing is true. It’s tough to dispute the concussions having an impact on kids.”
The lack of participants is limited to football, all other sports do not have similar worries.
The schools must let the NSAA know by Nov. 30 whether it will play 6-man or 8-man football.
The Humphrey board will make a decision at its Nov. 13 board meeting.