After low numbers forced Greenfield to go to 8-man football in 2014, the Wildcats are about to enter their second full-season as one of only 23 schools in Missouri who play that one-classification sport. And only two of their nine games will be at home.
“It’s been a transition for the coaching staff and the players,” admitted head coach Brian Lowry. “But we’re starting to understand things a little more and be more competitive this year.”
The Wildcats went 4-5 in their first full-season of 8-man football before losing in their district semifinal. And with a more wide-open game, there was a lot to get used to.
“Not having as many offensive lineman limits your plays a little bit,” Lowry said of a sport where the three-less players usually means two-less offensive tackles and a skill position. We still like to run it up the middle but the edges are a lot more open in 8-man.”
And as they’ve learned the nuances of their new endeavor such as the narrower fields, they’ve made some changes themselves
“We’ll be more balanced this season, Lowry said. “We ran the ball more than we passed it last year. We will be more balanced this year. We have a quarterback with a strong arm which helps because if you put a couple of deep safeties back there it opens up the middle and we’ve got some guys who can run up the middle too.”
That quarterback is 6-2, 205-pound senior Draven Stapp, who is big and strong-armed.
“Draven killed the weight room this off-season and he is one of the hardest-working and smartest kids on the team,” Lowry said. “He’s a definite leader.”
Stapp has a 6-2 wide-receiver who has the speed, height, and athleticism to make big plays in Jalen Roby. And junior fullback Jerrett Esposito (6-3, 195-pounds) rushed for over 1,000-yards with 16 touchdowns last season.
“He dominates on both sides of the ball,” Lowry said of Esposito, who also plays defensive end. “He also led the team in tackles, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, sacks. Pretty much every defensive category.”
In the wide-open world of 8-man football, Greenfield averaged 47.8 points-per-game last year. The problem was, they gave up 48.4.
“Our pass coverage hurt us at times,” Lowry recalls. “We’ve got some new guys on the team and are going to step-up and be a little better at pass coverage so hopefully we can stop the pass and Esposito and our defensive ends can get to the quarterback.”
Those new players have grown the program from 17 last year to 31 this year.
“It’s great,” Lowry said of the influx of new talent. “And it’s not just freshmen. We had a few transfers and we have six or seven upperclassmen who didn’t play last year who I talked to about playing this season. So Greenfield football has a new excitement about it this year and I’m proud to be right in the middle of that.”
So is there any chance of Greenfield returning to the 11-man ranks?
“There’s always that talk,” Lowry admits, “but I can’t comment about how things are going to change in the years ahead. We have to go this-year and next-year with 8-man because of our commitment and we’ll see how things are after that. At a small school anybody will tell you that the numbers go up-and-down. “
So for now, the Wildcats are trying to embrace and be successful at the 8-man game.
“It’s very exciting. The kids love it,” Lowry said of the high-scoring sport. “The community is coming around to it. They like football. And it doesn’t matter to me. We’ve got some kids out here who want to play football and that has me excited.”
