MAISfanatic

They host Raleigh October 27th in what will most likely be the 3A Region 6 District Championship. A win in that game would surely put them on the radar.

Then does anyone have a number 9-11 for Stringer?

Has anyone heard a number 8-11 on Stringer?

Adding to this topic: What are some teams that might possibly bump up from 8-Man back to 11-Man when reclassification happens?

Yeah, I agree that no championship is too far because there truly are some schools that don’t have enough to safely field an 11-Man team but stll want to compete for a championship. I think going off male enrollment and a roster cap might help some, while there still will be ways for teams to work around them. 15 players could be the cap, and they also could have a cap for male enrollment 8-11 and make it really low so only the teams that really do not have enough numbers could participate. Exceptions could be made if school contacts MSAIS and they make an evaluation of the team and roster size. But like you said, some teams would just wait and have kids join to put them over.

Agreeed. Maybe someone important will see my point and look into it because the number of small schools in the MSAIS still playing 11-Man football is getting smaller and even though 8-Man is a good alternative there is a big margin of the 32 teams participating in it that have the roster size to play 11-Man.

They got beat by Winston 28-7 at home. Tri-County and Brookhaven beat them by 30+ but all those teams are a lot bigger in numbers and have more talent I would guess

Sylva-Bay dressed out 21 against Bowling Green Friday night Did not know that though. I was just guessing Central Holmes was alright based off that. Never seen them play

I heard Newton might possibly be trying to go back up to 11 man when they reclassify ,but I have no evidence of that. They are having a lot of success in 8-Man also so that could be a factor

From what i’ve seen Central Holmes has a respectable team for their size. Only lost to Clinton Christian by 10 who is really good compared to previous years but has played a really tough schedule. Them and Winona should be good this Friday

I saw Winona in a jamboree and they looked thinner than 35 but may have picked up some guys since then plus 9th graders. What about Central Holmes?

I’ve seen Delta Streets and Winona who play in MSAIS 3A also and they both looked to have around 20-25 players on their respective rosters

I think Sylva-Bay has around 21 on their roster currently playing 11 man. Benton has less than that. Both have had to schedule numerous 4 & 5A’s because of the lack of small 11 man teams left. Not sure if either school is considering moving down to 8 Man

Here is an article that highlights the subject: https://impact601.com/news/bowling-green-firepower-too-much-for-a-thin-sylva-bay-roster/article_99b1de9e-378e-11ed-88bf-bb80b4e52cfb.html

As of the 2022 football season, there are 32 teams playing 8-Man football in the MSAIS. I would estimate close to half of the teams playing 8-Man football now were playing 11 man 5 years ago. While it is understandable that a decline in enrollment numbers for some schools and not being able to field enough players has forced some teams to resort to 8-Man football, some teams are taking advantage of this. For example, there are 10 teams currently playing MSAIS 3A football (smallest 11-Man classification in MSAIS). Many of these teams have about the same enrollment numbers as some of the larger 8-Man schools. Thus, they struggle to schedule competitive games because there is a lack of schools that they match up with in team size. To prove my point, Benton Academy (MSAIS 3A) dresses out about 15-20 players on their varsity team. Canton Academy, who they play in the same district with, dresses out around 40 players. Another team that could be used as an example would be Sylva-Bay (MSAIS 3A), which dresses out around 20 players on their varsity team, plays in the same district as Centreville, who has around 35-40 players. Many small schools like Benton and SBA do not want to resort to 8-Man football because they feel it would hurt enrollment even worse. Teams with similar enrollment that are dropping down to 8-Man is making it hard for schools with thin numbers like them to compete in 11-Man. According to Maxpreps, which may or may not be accurate, Manchester (MSAIS 2A 8-Man) dresses out 22 players. Newton Academy, who just recently moved down to MSAIS 2A 8-Man, dresses out around 23 according to Maxpreps. I personally would say these teams are capable of playing 11-Man. So, hypothetically to fix this problem, what if MAIS made a limit on 8-Man teams when they reclassify in 2023? Possibly they could base it on male enrollment like they do other classes, and that could allow some of these 8-Man teams with a larger enrollment to come back up to 11-Man. It would allow more competition for some of the smaller schools that are still playing 11-Man, plus it would appeal more to students who are looking to transfer from other schools that do not want to go from playing 11-Man to 8-Man.