Republic drops down To eight-man game

Wednesday, 02 September 2009

Tigers open at Oroville BY CHRIS COWBROUGH S-E Sports Editor Republic High will test the eight-man football waters on Friday night when they travel to Oroville High.  Game time is 7 p.m. While Oroville plays B-11 football, the contest with RHS will be an eight-man affair, ac¬cording to Tigers’ head coach Shawn Corbin. Republic, who planned to play again in the rugged North¬east B-11 League this fall, sim¬ply didn’t have the numbers to make that work.  RHS has a roster of only 14 players.  Those are low numbers for an eight-man program. “There was just no other way to go,”  added Corbin, who has been undertaking a crash course tutorial on eight-man football since the announce¬ment was made last week that the Tigers would opt down to eight-man.   A crash course in eight-man football Fortunately for Corbin, it doesn’t hurt that RHS volley¬ball coach Chris Burch is a former All-State line¬backer/running-back at Inche¬lium High who also started at linebacker for Central Wash¬ington’s Wildcats. “Eight-man is definitely a lit¬tle different,”  Corbin said.  “Chris (Burch) is helping us out when he can.  And we’re in a situation where we have seen it (eight-man) at least.” But the beauty is—it’s still football and blocking and tackling. Republic’s players are look¬ing forward to the challenge of the speed game that is eight-man football.  The Tigers were in a situation where it was ei¬ther eight-man or probably not football at all.   No football simply wasn’t the answer a proud high school sports town like Republic wanted to hear. “I think the kids are looking forward to it,”  Corbin added.  “It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s a lot better than the alternative (no football).” KEY PLAYERS Look for Republic to be com¬petitive with an eight-man schedule that is still being filled. Junior Scotty Bacon (5-10, 175) is a tailback/linebacker who will be one of the best players on the field whoever the Tigers are playing.  He’s quick-footed, strong and fits the eight-man game well. “With the speed game that eight-man is, I think we are going to be competitive,”  Corbin said.  “We have some quick kids.  Scotty is pretty quick…he’s a very solidly built kid.” Junior Clay Anderson is a 6-2, 170-pound junior who will start at quarterback. He’ll also play defensive end.  Anderson played some at QB last season.  He’s got a strong arm and has been looking good in early-sea¬son workouts. Small up front Senior Talon Kartchner is a 6-0, 155-pound running-back/tight end/receiver who will start for RHS.   Up front, Republic is small and inexperienced.  Junior Austin Collins is a 5-8, 160-pounder who will anchor the RHS front.   His brother, 5-5, 130-pound senior Ryn, will play defensive back and linebacker. Given the declining numbers, Corbin figures that eight-man football likely isn’t a temporary stop in Republic.  Look for the Tigers to play eight-man again next fall. THIS WEEK Corbin doesn’t know a whole lot about Oroville, other than as an 11-man team, they have more kids—and bigger kids. “They lost an all-state defen¬sive end,”  the coach said, “but their tailback, Nick Perez, is fast.  I know they’ll be bigger than we are.” The Republic schedule is still taking shape.  Selkirk High, another 2009 convert to eight-man football, is scheduled for Sept. 11.  Northeast B-8 power Almira/Coulee-Hartline has also been added to the slate, along with another game with Selkirk.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 September 2009 )