SPORTS
Six-man football is football for those who like speed
Football fans can be traditionalists.
Any other type of football that deviates from anything other than football played with no more or less than 22 men on a field measured exactly 120 by 53 yards is not “real” football.
Even at the professional level, leagues like the Canadian Football League and the various Arena Leagues get almost no respect even in the most football crazed parts of the country.
Along with this thinking, some people like to dismiss the most extreme version of high school football that cuts the player count almost in half, six-man football. In Montague County, Forestburg, Saint Jo and Gold-Burg play this brand of football at the high school level.
Played by necessity in school districts where the enrollment sometimes numbers less than a full 6A teams roster, this brand of football deviates more than the professional league off-shoots even more from the traditional 11-man.
Scores often look like basketball scores. The field is 80 by 40 yards. Everyone on the field is eligible to catch a pass. First downs are 15 yards instead of 10.
The person receiving the snap, who the quarterback would be in 11-man, cannot throw or run the ball. They must pitch, hand or throw it to someone behind the line of scrimmage who can. Field goals are worth four points due to the difficulty of getting a kick off with so few blockers.
With this in mind, extra points after touchdowns are flipped where a score from the two-yard line is worth one point and the kick is two. There is a 45 point slaughter rule.
With so much open space touchdowns are not a hope for every drive, but are expected. Defense comes down to not shutting a team down like what is expected out of most defensive units in 11-man, but coming up with a turnover here or a couple of crucial stops throughout the game. If a team’s offense does not make mistakes, they should score every drive.
With this expectation, field position is almost meaningless except for certain situation, rendering the act of punting almost useless.
“I think we punted about seven times total last year,” Saint Jo Coach Derek Schlieve said.
This has some teams thinking in some extreme ways that would almost never fly in 11-man football.
“Most teams will onside kick,” Schlieve said. “I think we onside kicked almost every time last year.”
With shorter rosters and kids playing most of the game with few breaks, the kids who play 6-man football are trained a little differently than usual 11-man football players.
“You have to be in way better shape, in my opinion,” Forestburg Coach Kyler Roach said. “I never played 11-man, but I’ve had some people I knew who came from an eight-man or 11-man school and they said it was the most running they had ever done in their life transitioning to six-man.” With so much space, tackling is even more at a premium since one missed tackle can be a catastrophe.
“It’s just a faster game,” Roach said. “You have to make very quick decisions and it’s a lot of one-on-one tackling. If you are a corner or safety and you miss then it’s a touchdown.”
This means every kid on the field will be counted on and tested on defense during a game.
“In 11-man football, you can kind of hide a weaker athlete in your scheme,” Gold-Burg Coach Gordon Williams said. “You can get your best players to the ball all the time. In six-man, it’s hard to get your best kids to the ball all the time. You may have to rely on a kid who is not a great open field tackler and he will be put in a spot where he has to be.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona vs Saint Jo
The Nocona Indians won both games in their double-header against Saint Jo on Thursday.
The Indians won game one 21-5 and then game two 12-1 after four and half innings.
With the bad weather earlier in the week and the busy spring schedule, the two schools agreed to a double-header on the unusual day instead of two games on different days like normal.
Last year, the smaller 1A Panthers had easily beaten Nocona in the games. This year, the Indians got some revenge.
Nocona was up 8-0 after the first two innings, but Saint Jo did a good job of hold the Indians scoreless for the next three. The Panthers scored one run on offense during this time to catch up a bit even though they still trailed 8-3.
The Nocona bats picked back up at the end, scoring five runs in the sixth inning to go up 13-3.
Saint Jo needed to score at least one run to prevent the game from ending early. The Panthers came through with two runs to go to the seventh and final inning.
The Indians got rolling, scoring eight runs to make the final score laughable. Saint Jo’s bats could not answer and Nocona won 21-5.
The second game started and the Panthers led 1-0 after the first inning. Unfortunately for Saint Jo, the Indian offense woke up in the second inning and scored nine runs to break the game open.
Nocona added three runs in the third inning and coasted to win after four and half innings 12-1.
Missing scores
The Bellevue baseball team has not updated it scores from its previous game on the GameChanger app.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians lost at Collinsville on Monday in a game that got away from them.
The Lady Pirates won 8-3, but with the Lady Indians committing six fielding errors, half the runs given up were unearned.
Nocona was down 3-0 after the first two innings before its bats picked things up in the third inning.
With two runners on base and one out, Abby Hill hit a double that scored one run. Tinley Cable followed and hit a fly out to center field, but it was deep enough to get another run home after tagging up.
The Lady Indians trailed 3-2.
Nocona just could not keep Collinsville off the board however. The Lady Pirates scored at least one run in every inning, with two runs in the second and fourth innings.
The Lady Indians were down 8-2 heading into the final inning and tried to stage a late game rally.
With two runners on base and one out, Skye Kirby grounded out to the shortstop for an out, but it drove one run home. Unfortunately, the next batter flew out to center field for out three to end the game.
The Lady Pirates won 8-3.
Missing scores
Saint Jo scores from its previous two games are not on the GameChanger app.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
It was a game to forget for the Bowie Jackrabbits baseball team on Wednesday against Iowa Park.
The Hawks won 13-1 in six innings to win by run-rule against the Jackrabbits.
Bowie was coming off a competitive, but losing effort against Jacksboro, but knew Iowa Park would be just as tough or better with the Hawks sitting in second place in the district standings.
The Jackrabbits had lost the first game at Iowa Park in 7-3, with most of the action happening in the later innings, so they knew they could play with the Hawks. Unfortunately, Bowie did not show it on Wednesday.
Iowa Park scored three runs in the opening inning to grab a lead it would never let go. It forced the Jackrabbits to change pitchers to get out of the inning after giving up two doubles, a single, two walks and a hit batter.
Down 3-0, Bowie showed some fight in the same inning. Rayder Mann took advantage of a dropped third strike to get on base with one out. Troy Kesey hit a double and Seth Mann drew a walk to load the bases up.
After a strikeout, Hayden Rodriguez was then hit by a pitch, which allowed one run to some in and score to cut the lead to 3-1.
Iowa Park scored one run in the second inning, but it was the third inning that broke the game open.
Seven walks, two singles and a hit batter allowed the Hawks to score six runs to up their lead to 10-1. Bowie cycled through three pitchers during the inning.
While the Jackrabbit bats did have several chances to score with runners in scoring position in the second and fourth innings, the chances dried up as the game went along.
Iowa Park scored three runs on three singles and a double in the sixth inning to go up 13-1.
Bowie would need to score at least three runs to prevent the game from stopping early.
Unfortunately, despite a one out drawn walk, the Jackrabbits did not threaten to score and the game did end early.
Iowa Park won 13-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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