Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes Sebring football coach Anthony Agresta coaches his players during a preseason practice.

When Sebring closes its season tonight with a road game at Springfield, it will also close the books – at least for the foreseeable future – on its participation in 11-man football.

Last week, the Sebring Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss the Trojans’ football future. The outcome of the meeting suggests that Sebring’s future is 8-man football.

Joel Miller, the commissioner of the Northern 8 Football Conference, confirmed that Sebring petitioned to join the league beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.

The Northern 8 Conference is made up of six schools, including five located in the northwest corner of Ohio. A sixth school is located in Indiana. Conference members include; Danbury (Ottowa County), Holgate (Henry County), Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic (Erie County), Stryker (Williams County) Toledo Christian (Lucas County) and Fort Wayne (IN) King’s.

All of the league’s schools participate in 8-man football.

“Make no mistake about it, this is a positive move for our program,” said Sebring coach Anthony Agresta. “There’s a lot of excitement within the program and the community about our move. This by no means is this a step down in any way.

“What school doesn’t want to be involved in big football games in October? This puts us in a position to compete week in and week out against schools with similar roster sizes. It’s not about a lack of talent or commitment. It’s simply the reality of a lack of numbers. We’ll now be able to compete on a level playing field.”

Sebring last posted a winning season (6-4) in 1992. Over the past 30 years, the program has an overall record of 37-260. The Trojans entered this season with 19 players, a number similar to its roster sizes of recent years. They enter tonight’s game with an 0-9 mark. They also enter the contest with 15 healthy players – the same number they’ve had for the past several weeks.

This year’s roster included seven seniors.

“It’s just not right to put our kids out there against some teams that field 35, 40 players or more,” Agresta said. “We love our association with the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference. We have great relationships with the schools.

“We just don’t have the numbers to compete. It’s not fair to ask all of our kids to never leave the field against opponents with that type of depth. And quite honestly, it doesn’t do much for a school like Springfield to play us.”

If accepted into the Northern 8 Conference, Sebring will face some challenges, particularly with travel and being able to fill a full schedule.

The distance between Sebring and the six conference schools averages out to roughly 174 miles per trip, or a 348-mile round trip. Sandusky would be the site of the nearest opponent (117 miles) while King’s School would entail a 237-mile trip into Indiana.

There currently are no Ohio 8-man football schools located outside of the northwest part of the state. The five Northern 8 Ohio schools regularly fill their schedules with teams from nearby Michigan, which fields 64 8-man teams.

Pennsylvania lists 21 schools which play 8-man football, but those are located in the eastern part of the state.

Still, Agresta believes the travel will be worth the time and effort.

“We might be making four or five long trips per season, but the tradeoff is keeping our program and our marching band alive and knowing we are going to be in competitive games,” Agresta said. “We’ll be making these trips on a Friday or Saturday so there’s no school the next day.

“Honestly, given the few times we will be making these trips, there’s no concern. It will be a great experience for the kids.”

Agresta noted that the ultimate goal is to build the Northern 8 Conference into two tiers, which would include schools from both the western and eastern parts of Ohio. He believes it is only a matter of time before 8-man football significantly expands, even within the region.

While the sport is recognized by the Ohio High School Athletic Association, it is not sanctioned by Ohio’s governing body of high school athletics. There currently are no OHSAA-sanctioned tournaments for 8-man football.

“There are a lot of schools which are facing similar issues as us, but I think sometimes you’re afraid to be that first school to make a move,” Agresta said. “But when your other options are to put your students at a huge disadvantage or to shut down the program all together, why not at least give this a shot.

“I really believe you’re going to see a sizable expansion of 8-man football in the near future. It’s very popular in many parts of the country.”

Nationally, there are over 1,500 schools which participate in 8-man football.

Sebring senior Scott Boston plays the wide receiver position when the Trojans are on offense and serves as a linebacker when his team is on defense. Boston notes that the Trojans’ lack of depth “becomes extremely noticeable as games wear on.” He also pointed out the difficulty of preparing for opponents throughout the week.

“We don’t even have enough players to go offense against defense so it really limits what we can do at practice,” Boston said. “There’s also the fear of getting hurt, because every week we know that we’re maybe one or two injuries away from ending the season.”

Boston said that he and his senior teammates would have welcomed an opportunity to play 8-man football.

“It’s a great opportunity for the smallest schools to have a fair chance week in and week out,” Boston said. “I watched some film and at the end of the day it’s still football. I’m anxious to watch and see how this plays out for the future of Sebring football.”

Sebring junior Joel Seals (Tight End / Linebacker) admitted he was skeptical when he first learned of the decision, but now “is all in and can’t wait until 2023.”

“I watched some games, and eight-man is football at its roots, it’s going to open up so many opportunities for our program,” Seals said. “I mean, I love being out on the field for every play but there are times when we’re going up against fresh players in the fourth quarter and I look at our bench and just tell myself I have to gut it out.

“This year, I know we had some really nice talent on our team. But we just didn’t have the numbers to compete. It’s been like that for as long as I’ve been here. Next year we’re going to be on an even playing field.”

Seals believes the move will actually help Sebring build its numbers within the program.

“A lot of kids just didn’t want to play because of the disadvantage,” Seals said. “I think this might be the move we need to really rejuniate the program. I can’t wait to be part of this new era of Sebring football.”

Agresta noted that as soon as tonight’s game is concluded, he’ll turn into “an eight-man football study freak.” He hopes to find and attend a few clinics along the way. Otherwise, it will be business as usual during the offseason.

Agresta also stressed the importance of acknowledging this year’s senior class, along with those former players who were recently a part of the Sebring program.

“I want to make sure they all totally understand that if it weren’t for them, we likely wouldn’t even have a program right now,” Agresta said. “Their commitment to the program gave us the opportunity to move forward. They deserve a ton of praise for their hard work and dedication.”

“Moving forward there are no guarantees of success, we know that. But at least we’ll be on a level playing field, and that’s all we can ask for.”