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Blue Ridge, Covenant start eight-man junior varsity football programs

Photo by Bart Isley

The benefits of having a junior varsity football program are so obvious that they go without saying. But what happens when you just don’t have enough players but you desperately need that developmental time?

 

You get creative.

 

You start playing eight-man football.

 

“It gives a chance for these young guys to get in the game,” said Blue Ridge varsity coach Tim Thomas. “Years ago, they had J.V. programs but now we’ve made an arrangement to start this eight-man program.”

 

Covenant and Blue Ridge both founded what’s believed to be Central Virginia’s first eight-man high school football teams, junior varsity squads that squared off for the first time last Monday in their inaugural game. Football varieties with a reduced number of players are popular in certain pockets of the country, with six-man football taking a particular hold in Texas where more than 200 schools play that version of the game. The eight-man version that the Eagles and Barons engaged in is more like arena football, with a reduced number of linemen serving as the major difference between that and the 11-man version. Having a junior varsity program like the new eight-man team can have a major impact on morale.

 

“Hopefully it builds excitement about our program in the younger kids in our school,” said Covenant varsity coach Dave Hart. “In the past, these eighth, ninth and tenth grade players that weren’t breaking the varsity lineup were scout team players the whole year and that’s a lot to ask from a kid. Now they at least get a chance to compete and play for their school against another team. I think it’s great for us, great for our program and great for these guys. It’s another step.”

 

The roster is made up of younger players on Covenant and Blue Ridge’s varsity squads that are getting limited time on the varsity, players that at public schools would likely be a part of the junior varsity program. The eight-man junior varsity team opens the door for younger, inexperienced players to gain more game experience against opponents that are similar in age and size, which should in turn help those players contribute more to the varsity when their number is called at that level. It can be particularly helpful for these two schools where developing and plugging in linemen can be a particularly large challenge.

 

“We’re just trying to build a program so we can get some continuity with our linemen,” said Blue Ridge junior varsity coach Christopher Robinson. “With a boarding school our kids go home and we don’t have that offseason program like most schools. With this we just get a jump start on that continuity that carries us through the offseason. Then we come back in August, we have a jump.”

 

The eight-man idea came together in the offseason, with Hart and Thomas communicating about their mutual need for a developmental situation for younger high school players. That helps those players gain experience but it also helps bolster their confidence which can be a challenge when players are asked to go up against players much older and stronger than they are in practice or varsity games.

 

“We have small numbers and we have a lot of young guys on the varsity but they don’t always get opportunities to get their confidence up,” said Covenant junior varsity coach Brian Wilson. “I think they’re doing an awesome job but it’s nice to come here and play against kids your own age. You can see that after you’ve gotten beat or had some things happen to you that don’t normally happen just because (varsity players) are stronger or more experienced, you can see that ‘hey, I can really play this game’.”

 

Wilson is coming at the opportunity as both a coach and parent as his son Brice Wilson suits up for the Eagles. Just a freshman, Wilson plays cornerback for the Eagles’ varsity squad and is a backup quarterback for Covenant with the Eagles currently thin at that spot with John Huemme’s offseason injury. He plays quarterback for the junior varsity, and getting a chance to go up against players his age is a reminder that he’s capable of getting the job done.

 

“To be perfectly honest with you, if Brice ever has to be called on to play a little quarterback on varsity my heart drops a little bit,” Wilson said. “I know he’s tough and he can handle it, but you always take a deep breath. Now I’m a little more confident he can do it, I know he can read it.”

 

The two teams will play each other three times in total this year, and they’re hoping next year other schools will add an eight-man junior varsity team to the mix. Blue Ridge practices as one program with the eight-man group occasionally branching off to get ready for games.

 

The setup also helps Hart and Thomas develop their coaching staffs, putting assistant coaches and younger coaches in leadership positions. That could pay major differences down the road as those coaches hone their craft.

 

“The head coaches I respect the most are the ones who open up leadership roles to their other coaches,” Hart said. “That grow and mature coaches under them. This is another opportunity to give our coaches to grow, learn, be in a lead role and develop themselves.”

 

According to one online source, there are no reduced-man football teams that are high school varsity squads in Virginia. But there are now at least two junior varsity teams, the product of a pair of local schools getting creative to strengthen their program and the players in them. That’s a commitment to development and an athlete-first mentality that should lead to good things for both squads.

 

“It’s local and the kids get a chance to play against kids their own size,” Thomas said. “The kids are loving it, I had a kid last year who was a manager who is really excited now because he gets to play. It’s helped our numbers a lot. It’s just awesome to give the kids a chance to play.”

 

Correction 9.26.16 at 1:26 p.m.: Per commenter Mike Simonton below, Southampton Academy in Virginia plays eight-man football in the North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association.

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