Take a look at 8-man high school football—
MICHIGAN – Powers North Central vs. Deckerville – 2016 8 Player Football State Final Highlights on STATE CHAMPS
Eight-man football shares the same rules, procedures, and structure as the traditional 11-man game.
It depends on the type of formation used, but the eliminated players are commonly two offensive tackles and a skill position player on offense and two defensive backs and a defensive lineman on defense.
The size of the playing field is often smaller in eight-man football than in 11-man. To accommodate six fewer players on the field, the width of the field is 40-yard-wide, 13 1/3-yards narrower than the 53 1/3-yard eleven-man field. Most eight-man leagues mandate 100-yard length fields, where few choose the 80-yard-long field length option.
IOWA – Don-Bosco-vs-Midland Semi-final 8-Player 11-10-16
(6-27-17) Schools located in the northeastern Illinois stateline area on the Wisconsin border are planting the seeds of 8-man football with the hopes of it expanding and adding new schools in the future.
Five Northeastern Athletic Conference are heading what would be the first 8-man football league in Illinois. North Shore Country Day (might be a qustion mark for fielding a team), Elgin Westminster and Lake Forest Academy will join Alden-Hebron and Christian Life in a NAC 8-man division. The schools also will have a scheduling agreement with six schools from Wisconsin’s Great 8 South.
- Abundant Life/St. Ambrose
- Wisconsin Heights
- Oakfield
- *North Shore Country Day (IL)
- Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah
- Maranatha Baptist
- Valley Christian
For Rockford Christian Life it’s been one of the more dramatic changes of a school making the move into 8-man football.
At the close of the 2015-16 year Head Football Coach/AD Tony Amborgio resigned and left for a position in the Rockford City Schools. At Jefferson, Ambrogio brought his winning offensive ways with him as the offensive coordinator. The J-Hawks last season went 4-5, in their most successful season after going 0-9 five years in a row.
Ambrogio had taken the Eagles to three straight IHSA play-off games in 2013 (8-2), 2104 (10-1) and 2015 (5-5). Since 8-man football is not a sanctioned sport in Illinois, there is no playoffs for Christian Life to qualify for now or down the road.
This season the Eagles will play Alden-Hebron twice and will play three Wisconsin members from the Great 8 South.
Illinois Schools with 8-man Football programs

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