Dayton to Play 8-Man Football

DAYTON - The Dayton School Board recently ap­proved a resolution allowing Dayton's football team to play 8-man football in the fall of 2014. The team will play members of the South­east Washington 1B 8-man league.

According to Superin­tendent Doug Johnson, the move was made because of low turnout in recent years. "We've ended the last couple of seasons with only 13 or 14 players," Johnson said. "It's pretty hard to field an 11-man team with those numbers."

Johnson said the school got permission from its cur­rent 2B league, the 1B league and the Washington Inter­scholastic Athletic Associa­tion to make the move, prior to the board's decision.

The school board also was expected to accept the resignation of football coach Dean Bickelhaupt at its Janu­ary 22 board meeting. John­son said that Bickelhaupt's departure was because of personal considerations not a result of the change in league. Johnson said the school will begin the search for a new coach within the next couple of months.

Johnson also said that Dayton's junior high team will move to an 8-man team as well.

Even though the team will participate in the 1B league, it will not be eligible to par­ticipate in playoffs, because of the school's size.

"This move allows us to keep football, and hopefully we can develop the program and increase turnout," he said. "It may also allow us to field a junior varsity team."

Johnson said that allow­ing many of the 9th and 10th graders to play JV rather than varsity will help them develop at an easier pace, and hopefully more of them will stay with the program.

With its new schedule, Dayton's football team will still face some formidable opponents. They will include Liberty Christian, which won the state 1B champi­onship three years ago and Touchet, which made it to the state championship game this year but lost.

"Anybody who thinks this move is going to make football a cakewalk for us is mistaken," Johnson said.

In 8-man football, five players are required to line up at the line for each play, compared with seven in 11- man football. Three players line up in the backfield, rath­er than four. On offense, only the center and two guards are ineligible to carry the ball.

"In Washington State, 8-man football is played on a regulation football field," Johnson said. "It's a much more wide-open game. I've hear it called a 'track meet in football gear.'"