Indiana Eight-Man Football 2026

[hhpatriot04]

Eight-Man Teams

• Waldron Mohawks
• Morristown Yellow Jackets
• Indiana Deaf Orioles
• Wabash Apaches
• Greenwood Christian Hawks
• Union (Dugger) Bulldogs
• Tri-State Crusaders
• Kosciusko Thunder
• South Newton Rebels

For all your eight-man news and discussions!

[Muda69]

Just a fad or here to stay?   Will co-ops or possible school consolidations make 8-man a less desirable format?

[Coach Nowlin]

Co Op no matter how much you and others think is the best option it is not, will not be the forefront of the IFCA it seems.    Why Co op  over 8 man  ?   

[Gipper]

As a SN alumnus, I’m happy there will still be games.  But the circumstances will be quite different, most notably in competition.  The MWC has been whittled down into a very manageable league, with pretty easy travel times across the board.  NN to Frontier is the furthest at about an hour away.   I like how the folks of Kentland, Goodland, and Brook will have another chance to get together, but I’m most happy for the players.

[Muda69]

13 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

Co Op no matter how much you and others think is the best option it is not, will not be the forefront of the IFCA it seems.    Why Co op  over 8 man  ?   

Because traditional 11-man tackle football is the superior form of the game.  And does the IHSAA really want to start sanctioning state tournaments in two different "flavors" of tackle football?  No, 8-man football ultimately waters down the entire game, another race to mediocrity. 

 

[hhpatriot04]

8 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Because traditional 11-man tackle football is the superior form of the game.  And does the IHSAA really want to start sanctioning state tournaments in two different "flavors" of tackle football?  No, 8-man football ultimately waters down the entire game, another race to mediocrity. 

I agree with you in a perfect world. But if the question is 8-man football vs. no football, I'll choose 8-man. And that seems to be the question these schools have answered.

I also agree that the IFCA and IHSAA should permit co-oping. Let the market of ideas win the day.

[Coach Nowlin]

Again:   Sell the idea of CO OP where when a school takes on say 5 players from neighboring district , but for classifications purposes requires the entire school new enrollment be the total of the school you are co op with.    What Administration would be willing to move up most likely 2 classes to take on a handful of neighboring players.......  NO CHANCE   ESPECIALLY, when there is a very plausible and easier way to have kids play a game.....  

 

So Wabash, Co Cops with Northfield HS:     Combined Enrollments pushes them now from 1A to 3A....   So that is worth it to bump up classifications like that so a traditional 11 man game can be played vs a game which... wait for it....  is TACKLE FOOTBALL, played with 3 less players and smaller field by 13.5 yards WIDE, but its still 100 yards length 

 

[Frozen Tundra]

20 hours ago, hhpatriot04 said:

Eight-Man Teams

• Waldron Mohawks
• Morristown Jackets
• Indiana Deaf Orioles
• Wabash Apaches
• Greenwood Christian Hawks
• Union (Dugger) Bulldogs
• Tri-State Crusaders
• Kosciusko Thunder
• South Newton Rebels

For all your eight-man news and discussions!

Morristown is the Yellow Jackets. Their helmets just say Jackets for short.

[gahoosierfan]

53 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

Again:   Sell the idea of CO OP where when a school takes on say 5 players from neighboring district , but for classifications purposes requires the entire school new enrollment be the total of the school you are co op with.    What Administration would be willing to move up most likely 2 classes to take on a handful of neighboring players.......  NO CHANCE   ESPECIALLY, when there is a very plausible and easier way to have kids play a game.....  

Education

 

 

So Wabash, Co Cops with Northfield HS:     Combined Enrollments pushes them now from 1A to 3A....   So that is worth it to bump up classifications like that so a traditional 11 man game can be played vs a game which... wait for it....  is TACKLE FOOTBALL, played with 3 less players and smaller field by 13.5 yards WIDE, but its still 100 yards length 

 

Has anyone checked to see how Illinois handles co-op football?

[gahoosierfan]

56 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

Again:   Sell the idea of CO OP where when a school takes on say 5 players from neighboring district , but for classifications purposes requires the entire school new enrollment be the total of the school you are co op with.    What Administration would be willing to move up most likely 2 classes to take on a handful of neighboring players.......  NO CHANCE   ESPECIALLY, when there is a very plausible and easier way to have kids play a game.....  

Education

 

 

So Wabash, Co Cops with Northfield HS:     Combined Enrollments pushes them now from 1A to 3A....   So that is worth it to bump up classifications like that so a traditional 11 man game can be played vs a game which... wait for it....  is TACKLE FOOTBALL, played with 3 less players and smaller field by 13.5 yards WIDE, but its still 100 yards length 

 

Has anyone checked to see how Illinois handles co-op football? https://www.ihsa.org/schools/cooperative-teams  By the way, IHSA.org is a far superior website compared to IHSAA.org.

[Gipper]

4 minutes ago, gahoosierfan said:

Has anyone checked to see how Illinois handles co-op football? https://www.ihsa.org/schools/cooperative-teams  By the way, IHSA.org is a far superior website compared to IHSAA.org.

No,  Illinois taxed themselves again.

[hhpatriot04]

35 minutes ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Morristown is the Yellow Jackets. Their helmets just say Jackets for short.

Noted.

[Frozen Tundra]

15 minutes ago, hhpatriot04 said:

Noted.

Do you happen to know when Indiana Deaf started going by the Orioles nickname? Everything I had always seen said they were called the Deaf Hoosiers.

[gonzoron]

3 minutes ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Do you happen to know when Indiana Deaf started going by the Orioles nickname? Everything I had always seen said they were called the Deaf Hoosiers.

Ever since I remember. And that's a long time. Hamilton Heights used to play them in basketball when I was in Junior HIgh.

"The Indiana School for the Deaf mascot, the Orioles (also known as the Deaf Hoosiers), has been associated with the school's athletic tradition alongside its founding year of 1843 "

Edited 4 hours ago by gonzoron

[Muda69]

1 hour ago, Coach Nowlin said:

So Wabash, Co Cops with Northfield HS:     Combined Enrollments pushes them now from 1A to 3A....   So that is worth it to bump up classifications like that so a traditional 11 man game can be played vs a game which... wait for it....  is TACKLE FOOTBALL, played with 3 less players and smaller field by 13.5 yards WIDE, but its still 100 yards length 

 

Yes. Because 11-man is the superior product/game. 

 

17 minutes ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Do you happen to know when Indiana Deaf started going by the Orioles nickname? Everything I had always seen said they were called the Deaf Hoosiers.

How non-PC of them.  Celebrating their deafness like that.  Shame!  Of course they had to change the name. 

 

 

[Frozen Tundra]

18 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

Ever since I remember. And that's a long time. Hamilton Heights used to play them in basketball when I was in Junior HIgh.

"The Indiana School for the Deaf mascot, the Orioles (also known as the Deaf Hoosiers), has been associated with the school's athletic tradition alongside its founding year of 1843 "

Good to know. I had seen the Orioles listed as their nickname someplace else before as well. However, most sources I had seen said they were the Deaf Hoosiers. If both are used, I wonder how we’re to determine when to use them. For instance, Columbus East are the Olympians and Columbus North are the Bull Dogs. However, in swimming, Columbus East are the H₂Olympians (or H₂Os for short) and Columbus North are the Bull Frogs. For Indiana Deaf, are the Orioles and Deaf Hoosiers nicknames sport-specific or are they just interchangeable?

[adambetz]

Before the recent defections of a handful of IHSAA schools I was really worried about the future of 8 man, and now it looks better than it ever has.

[adambetz]

Orioles is the mascot. Deaf Hoosiers is the nickname.

Edited 3 hours ago by adambetz

[adambetz]

Also love how they just wear Indiana on most of their uniforms.

[justafootballguy]

8 man football is huge in Michigan. Here is a link to see how many schools play it... This is going to be a good thing for Indiana to keep kids playing the game! 

 

8pfb.pdf 

Edited 3 hours ago by justafootballguy

[hhpatriot04]

27 minutes ago, justafootballguy said:

8 man football is huge in Michigan. Here is a link to see how many schools play it... This is going to be a good thing for Indiana to keep kids playing the game! 

 

8pfb.pdf 

Do 8-man players get recruited by colleges? (honest question)

[Muda69]

46 minutes ago, justafootballguy said:

8 man football is huge in Michigan. Here is a link to see how many schools play it... This is going to be a good thing for Indiana to keep kids playing the game! 

 

8pfb.pdf 

That's also because there are almost twice as many football playing high schools in Michigan as there are in Indiana:

[Coach Nowlin]

2 hours ago, Muda69 said:

Yes. Because 11-man is the superior product/game. 

 

How non-PC of them.  Celebrating their deafness like that.  Shame!  Of course they had to change the name. 

 

 

yet you've advocated for getting rid of football because its not worth its resources.....   yet Co Op is better option vs 8 man.    Got it 

55 minutes ago, hhpatriot04 said:

Do 8-man players get recruited by colleges? (honest question)

without having to look up anything, I know that LB and RB both ended up in college and NFL:    Chad Greenway and Rashad Sallom.   just to name 2 off top of my head, with Sallom winning a Heisman 

 

[Muda69]

6 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

yet you've advocated for getting rid of football because its not worth its resources.....   yet Co Op is better option vs 8 man.    Got it 

 

Rome wasn't built in a day.  

If you are going to have high school tackle football you might as well do what you need to do to have the superior product.   And that is 11-man tackle football.    And if all may be a moot point anyway in the next 20 years or so with U.S. and Worldwide populations on the decline..................

 

[justafootballguy]

1 hour ago, Muda69 said:

That's also because there are almost twice as many football playing high schools in Michigan as there are in Indiana:

Soccer

 

 

1 hour ago, Muda69 said:

That's also because there are almost twice as many football playing high schools in Michigan as there are in Indiana:

Soccer

 

Yes, I am aware of that. I coached in the state of Michigan. My point is that having 8 man football is helping save the sport for kids and schools...