Subiaco Academy adds to growing list of 8-man teams

Subiaco Academy recently declared to play 8-man football, becoming Arkansas' first Class 4A school to do so.

There are a handful of reasons why Subiaco is making the switch, but none more striking than the Trojans' record as an 11-man football program.

"We're 69-217 in the last 30 years," said Mike Berry, the all-male school's athletic director and football coach. "We graduated 12 seniors last year, leaving us with maybe enough players in the mid-20s range to go up against teams with rosters of 60-plus players, including 81 for Mena. We were at the point where the situation was not doing us or the teams in our conference any good."

The enrollment at the academy would classify its athletic teams in Class 3A, but because of the Arkansas Activities Association's rule for private schools, the school must bump up a classification to 4A.

Subiaco Academy went 2-8 last season and ended the year on a six-game losing streak. The Trojans' only victory in the 4A-4 Conference play came against Dover, which finished 0-10.

Berry said he sent letters of apology to coaches in the 4A-4 Conference, who were left scrambling for games that were scheduled against Subiaco Academy for the next two years. League champion Ozark, for instance, is still searching for a Week 2 or a Week 6 game that was supposed to be played against the Trojans.

"It's been tough," Ozark Coach Jeremie Burns said. "We've called about every school in Arkansas, some in Oklahoma and some in Missouri, looking for a game. We've even reached out to a home-schooled team in Texas."

Subiaco Academy is a private institution whose situation is quite different than private-school powers in football such as Pulaski Academy and Shiloh Christian. Subiaco Academy is a college preparatory, Roman Catholic boarding and day school with a student body comprised of boys from across the region and, in some cases, other countries.

"Our kids like to play football, but it's not their life," said Berry, who is also the academy's assistant headmaster. "They come here for the college preparatory education."

Subiaco Academy's decision to drop 11-man football adds to a growing list of schools who've declared for 8-man football, which is still listed as a club sport in Arkansas. Marshall and Rose Bud are Class 3A schools that previously announced plans to switch from 11-man to 8-man football for the 2020-22 reclassification cycle. Decatur and a handful of schools led the drive to revive 8-man football in the state.

"I am excited about the growth of 8-man football in Arkansas," said Toby Conrad, the high school principal and athletic director at Decatur, which made the switch two years ago. "I am confident that next year it will become a sanctioned sport.

"Several schools are still playing 11-man football, then having to forfeit games late in the season due to loss of players because of injury. I think the growth for 8-man will continue, and this will rejuvenate the love of football for fans and students in a lot of smaller schools across the state."

Although AAA has not sanctioned 8-man as a championship sport, it has assisted the schools with 8-man football. There are now 16 teams involved that'll be divided into East and West conferences in the fall.

Members of the East Conference are Augusta, Hermitage, Lee County, Midland, Rector, Rose Bud, Woodlawn and Brinkley, which won the 8-man championship by defeating Augusta 42-20 in November. The West Conference is comprised of Abundant Life, Decatur, Episcopal Collegiate, Marshall, Spring Hill, Subiaco Academy, Trinity Christian and Western Yell County.

Western Yell County and Decatur previously were members of the 2A-4 Conference along with Hartford. Over the past few years, all three schools have left the conference, and now Hartford is fully consolidated with Hackett. Those schools often struggled to complete seasons with enough players, and forfeits were common when numbers were too low to safely continue.

"Change is scary, but we did what we thought was best for our kids," said Western Yell County Coach Kody Hamlin, whose team switched to 8-man for last season. "With 11-man football, we had to put a 150-pound kid on the line, and that's a tough place to be when you're that small. We've got four good linemen right now, and that's what you want for 8-man football."

Subiaco Academy has eight games scheduled, and the new era for the Trojans begins Aug. 28 when they are scheduled to host Arkansas Christian Academy of Bryant.

"Our players are excited," Berry said. "They're excited about the opportunity to compete."

Sports on 04/28/2020