Indiana Eight-Man Football 2026

[justafootballguy]

Good Luck to @CoachDurham and the Rebels! 

[Coach Nowlin]

Just now, justafootballguy said:

Good Luck to @CoachDurham and the Rebels! 

Why Pick for State Champs!!!!     

[Coach Nowlin]

21 hours ago, Muda69 said:

How are these 8-man games currently officiated?  Are the refs members of the IFOA? Are a lot of them also IHSAA licensed officials, doing 8-man games "on the side"?

 

Good Starting point:    Not sure it will answer it all:   I've posted before so I will post again:   https://ifca.net

 

go to top of the website:  Find 8 MAN 

Videos and information:   Not so. much rules per se:   But yes officials are just like 11 man.   ITS THE SAME GAME:  Played on a field 13 yards shorter WIDTH with 3 LESS players.    

[CoachDurham]

21 hours ago, Muda69 said:

How are these 8-man games currently officiated?  Are the refs members of the IFOA? Are a lot of them also IHSAA licensed officials, doing 8-man games "on the side"?

 

I can only comment on our game this past Saturday. But, we had a crew from IFOA. They did a Friday night game, and then did our game on Saturday.

[justafootballguy]

25 minutes ago, CoachDurham said:

I can only comment on our game this past Saturday. But, we had a crew from IFOA. They did a Friday night game, and then did our game on Saturday.

They had whistles and flags??!!

[hhpatriot04]

1 hour ago, Coach Nowlin said:

Good Starting point:    Not sure it will answer it all:   I've posted before so I will post again:   https://ifca.net

 

go to top of the website:  Find 8 MAN 

Videos and information:   Not so. much rules per se:   But yes officials are just like 11 man.   ITS THE SAME GAME:  Played on a field 13 yards shorter WIDTH with 3 LESS players.    

100 or 80 yard field?

[foxbat]

52 minutes ago, hhpatriot04 said:

100 or 80 yard field?

100 yard ... just "thinner."

It does change the dynamics a little, but the thinner field blunts some of the "get to the corner and it's a TD."

I've seen and coached/played in variants of this at the youth level and the game still keeps several of the things that make for good tackle football.  

We had one time where we showed up and the other team only had 9 kids that could make the game.  Rather than have the other team forfeit, on the fly the refs and us coaches came up with a variant of 9-man ball so that the game could still be played that day.  Had alter some things like having to have 7 on the line, but all and all, the experience was a success and definitely beat leaving the field with a 2-0 win and clean uniforms.  All in all, if its a question of 8-man or no-man, 8-man's the better option ... for the sport and the kids.