State of HS Football

[CRF4Dan]

We all love football but has anyone noticed changes? I've noticed this season that depth is a concern for a lot of coaches, even at bigger schools such as Class 5.

A topic of debate last night on social media was declining numbers.

Did you know that some schools are not fielding JV teams? Did you know that Bruton & Park View-Sterling will not be fielding varsity teams? There might be another varsity team up north that doesn't field a team because only 8 players showed up.

Our old friend Tom Garrett wrote an article about 5 years ago on the impending doom of high school football.

https://theaxisofego.com/2013/01/31/will-high-school-sports-exist-in-2043/

What are you seeing at your school? Do you see numbers dropping?

 

[Essex Trojan1]

I believe 2A Bruton has a team because my boys 1A Essex will be having a scrimmage with them at 7pm today 8-11-18 @ Essex. I have not heard of any changes. Now...I do know 1A Charles City will not be fielding a team this year.

 

[VolNation85_rivals]

Thankfully that trend has not hit the Central Virginia area. To my knowledge, all teams in the Seminole and Dogwood districts have both Jv and Varsity teams.

 

[97Srhs24095]

Staunton River has a middle school, JV and Varsity team. For summer workouts between the JV and Varsity team they averaged around 80.

 

[Essex Trojan1]

Here at the Bruton @ Essex scrimmage. Bruton numbers are VERY low. When the offense was warming up for Bruton, they looked to only have 6 or 7 subs on the sideline.

 

[EPJr1947]

VHSL mulls making changes to help football programs

The eight-man football wouldn’t be replacing 11-man football, but just give some schools another option if they’re having trouble fielding a team.

Haun said they will be sending out a survey to see how many schools might be interested in eight-man football as well as talking about it during the upcoming year at VHSL meetings.

“I think it’s a viable option,” Haun said of eight-man football. “Rather than a school just totally dropping their football program, I think it gives students an opportunity to participate in football for an eight-man versus no football. I think it’s an option that we need to look at, provide for our schools if there is enough desire out there to take a look at it.”

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/local-news/2018/08/vhsl-mulls-making-changes-to-help-football-programs/