A whole new ball game

Bluejays get ready to join 8-man league

By Ross Pattermann

The days are still long, the weather still warm, but here and there one can see autumn is approaching - a leaf changing from green to gold, geese on the move, and the sounds of whistles, tackles and exclamations.

With fall comes football, and like the leaf changing color, Athens football is also marking a transition, moving from traditional 11-man football to the 8-man game in 2021.

A year after making the shift from the Cloverwood Conference to a new-look Marawood Conference, the ‘Jays join a new conference - and an exciting fastpaced, uptempo form of football that is sweeping across the state.

Athens is one of the newest members of 8-man football, and for the coaching staff, this change is something that’s been brewing for some time, but one that holds a lot of promise and potential.

“We’ve been kinda seeing it coming,” returning head coach Todd Diethelm said during early contact days. “We lost twelve seniors last year, and we knew we had a small freshman class coming in.”

Athens has a rich history of success in 11-man football, and the decision to move was not made lightly, Diethelm says.

“It’s hard, we didn’t want to do it, but we didn’t have a choice. Our squad is small, right now it’s just 16, so this was inevitable that we had to do it.”

Those numbers are likely to improve once school begins, and Diethelm says for anyone on the fence about joining, just watch an 8-man game online and see how exciting it can be.

In 8-man, athletes compete on a shortened field that measures 80-yards long and 40-yards wide. And with three less defenders to watch for, scores and highlight reel plays are the norm.

Diethelm is hoping that excitement trickles into the community, and gets more kids to come out and play under the Friday night lights this fall.

“Hopefully our numbers come back in a few years and we can get back to 11-man, but with the athletes we have, I think they should be excited to play,” Todd says in-between shouting instruc- tions. “We have some studs on the team this year, and I think 8-man will really play to their strengths. I’m excited for it, the kids are excited for it because it’s something new, and I think we can be real competitive in it.”

Diethelm says Athens already has the atheltes needed for a successful season, but it’s the X’s and O’s that’s got him and assistant coach Craig Diedrich up at night, albeit with anticipation, not dread.

“I’m excited for it, and I’m a little nervous because we have a lot to learn. The last couple of months we’ve been working on strategizing and watching film and talking to other coaches. They’ve given us some good tips and that’s been very helpful. You put some studs on the end, and players have to make plays.”

But when it’s all said and done, it’s still football, which means tackling, getting stops and moving the ball downfield. It’s also a style very different from what the Bluejays are used to.

With less players, opposing teams tend to run a faster, more spread offense that sees plenty of big play potential - both through the air and on the ground. When asked what he thinks will be the biggest challenges this season, Diethelm doesn’t hold back.

“It’s going to be all of it,” he says with a wry chuckle. “There’s three less guys out there to make plays, so you have to make the plays, but I think we have the players who can do that.”

The playbook isn’t the only thing that will be new for the ‘Jays. There’s also going to be plenty of different teams to face, like Sturgeon Bay, but also plenty of familiar ones too, with Owen-Withee, Gilman and Thorp also making the transition to 8-man.

“So this year we are in the Rogue Conference, which is teams that have just switched this year, so you’re not in the WIAA playoffs. Which means we’re just kinda out there on our own.”

While the Bluejays will not be eligible for the WIAA 8-man playoffs until 2022, Diethelm and assistant coach Craig Diedrich are committed to getting Athens acclimated to their new home as quickly as possible.

The Rogue Conference will have seven teams, with the top four playing in a 1 vs 4 seed, and a 2 vs 3 seed once the regular season is over.

The winners between those games will then have a final game to determine who wins the conference title, and the losers of the semifinals will play each other. The bottom three will also play a round-robin in order to get more games.

“The goal is to get in as many games as possible, especially for our younger kids,” Diethelm says. “We got a real good group of seniors, but after that, we’re a little thin. This season is all about getting the kids used to the game, and every kid who comes out is going to get some snaps. So they should have a lot fun with it.”

With several all-conference players returning, expect Athens to pile up the points, much more so than last season, when COVID-19 quarantines depleted an already thin roster.

“The numbers are really what killed us last year,” Todd says. “We had the athletes, but when COVID hit, we lost a lot of games because we couldn’t field a full team. If we had played 8-man a year earlier, I would have liked my chances against anyone in the state.”

The number of schools joining 8-man are only going to grow. In 2012 just 16 schools played 8-man football. By 2018, that number had grown to 32. Now, roughly 60 teams are in the sport, and those numbers are expected to continue to climb, making Athens’ jump to the scene all the more timely.

“I think once we get used to the style of play, which tends to have a little more passing and higher scoring, I think we’ll be good,” Diethelm says.

Diethelm hopes to have Athens in a position to do well this season, and while he forsees growing pains, he’s happy gridiron glory and Friday night lights will prevail in Athens.

“It all comes down to giving the kids opportunities,” Todd says as practice comes to a close. “As long as they get to play, I’m happy, and if they’re happy, then it’s all good.”