8-man district fairly static

The song remains the same, basically, for Union area 8-man football teams in 2021-22 seasons. The Iowa High School Athletic Association added a large class and created new class sizes, new districts and new playoff qualifications. One thing the IHSAA did not do, despite recommendations, was create two classes for 8-man, which has increased from 59 teams in 2019 to 72 for 2021.

'I understand that changes needed to happen, but I am not convinced this is the solution,” New London head coach Mark McSorley said. 'Time will tell.”

The new large school class (5A) has 36 teams as does 4A and 3A, with 2A and 1A at 48 and A with 56. Yet the IHSAA left 72 8-man schools as one class. Almost half will make the playoffs.

Winfield-Mount Union, WACO and New London will be in one of two districts with eight teams, eight others have seven. Montezuma, Moravia and Twin Cedars are gone from 2020, replaced with Iowa Valley and HLV. Those two schools will be the longest trips for Union teams. New London will have the most mileage with HLV at 100 miles, Iowa Valley 90, Tri-County 85, English Valleys 75 and Lone Tree 50.

While all teams qualified for the postseason in 2020, only 16 teams were playoff bound before that. The playoff field has widened considerably with 16 of 36 (44 percent of the field) in the postseason in the three largest classes, 32 of 48 in 2A and 1A (67 percent) and 32 of 54 (59 percent) in A. 'Playoff qualifiers in each class should be held to the same standards to qualify,” McSorley said. 'Why can't we have district champions automatically qualify and then use RPI (ratings percentage index) for the remaining teams of qualifiers?”

The RPI will only be used for the field of 16 in 5A, then four at-large berth for 4A and 3A.

Playoff chances are much improved with Class 8-man having 32 qualifiers of 72 total (44 percent). The top three teams from each district will make it, with two at-large qualifiers. Class 8-man has 32 teams of in the playoffs with the two at-large berths determined by the 17-point rule.

'It is a very competitive, very familiar district,” WACO head coach Chad Edeker said. 'I think five or six teams could possibly win the district. I think we can be in those top teams.”

Teams in 2A, 1A, A, and 8-man will be permitted to play a ninth regular season contest should they not qualify for the postseason.

'I am looking forward to this season, with COVID hopefully settling down a bit and teams being able to focus more on offseason workouts and getting better, since we missed out on all that last offseason,” McSorley said.

8-Player

' Teams: 72

' Districts: 10

' Teams per district: eight with 7, two with 8

' Playoff qualifiers: 32

' Automatic qualifiers: 30, top three per district

' At-large berths: 2, 17-point differential in district

' Regular-season games (per team): 8

' District games (per team): 6-7

' Non-District games (per team): 1-2

Union area 8-man district teams:

District 6

New London (2020 in 8-4, 7-2; 2019 in 8-4, 7-3)

WACO (2020 in 8-4, 3-5; 2019 in 8-4, 4-5)

Winfield-Mount Union (2020 in 8-4, 4-4; 2019 in 8-4, 1-8)

English Valleys (2020 in 8-4, 7-2; 2019 in 8-4, 4-5)

HLV (2020 in 8-5, 5-4; 2019 in 8-4, 8-3)

Iowa Valley (2020 in 8-5, 3-5; 2019 in 8-4, 5-4)

Lone Tree (2020 in 8-4, 4-4; 2019 in 8-4, 5-4)

Tri-County (2020 in 8-4, 1-6; 2019 did not play)

TOTALS LAST SEASON AND CLASS RANK

TDs Total Yards Passing comp-att-yards td-int Rushes-Yards

New London 54 21st 3,766 16th 29-50-505 (53rd) 9-2 350-2,778 5th

WACO 25 49th 2,349 54th 57-140-698 (43rd) 8-9 277-1,201 46th

WMU 35 43rd 2,762 44th 15-36-272 (379) 4-4 324-2,025 19th

Eng Vllys 58 14th 3,829 13th 61-127-1,334 (13th) 23-10 254-2,114 15th

HLV 55 18th 3,936 12th 39-76-479 (57th) 6-1 357-2,729 6th

Iowa Valley 34 45th 2,710 46th 35-92-453 (58th) 6-12 342-1,620 33rd

Lone Tree 41 32nd 3,251 31st 78-154-1,027 (31st) 10-10 269-1,520 36th

Tri-County 11 62nd 1,310 66th 24-52-164 (66th) 1-2 251-869 56th

This is coach McSorley from New London. I was very excited in November when I got the email from IAHSAA about a potential change in the districts. This was the first idea that was going to be presented to the Board of Control.

It was going to create Class 5A but also split 8 player into 2 classes. I thought this was the solution, but however was not accepted by the Board.

I am still am not completely convinced that this new redistricting is the solution. Just looking at the bigger schools and how all the districts line up, I am not sure how all teams in 5A will be able to compete. The bigger schools in 5A with more kids would in my opinion have more of an advantage than the smaller schools in 5A. There is a huge discrepancy in the number of kids (enrollment).

I also think that the playoff qualifiers in each class should be held to the same standards to qualify. Why can't we have district champions automatically qualify and then use RPI for the remaining teams of qualifiers?

Our district in 8 player is back to really to what it was back in 2018 minus Montezuma. The travel time will be about the same as what it was this past season. Competition level for us will be actually a little better in my opinion.