Coaches and administrators from smaller schools and communities around the Last Frontier believe the modified game is here to stay — and hope it could spur a football revival.
Updated: 23 seconds agoWhen Seward head football coach Tyler Mallory was approached with the proposition of his team becoming one of a handful in Alaska to start playing 9-man football, he wasn’t necessarily thrilled with the idea.But after one season of 9-man football, it appears to be sustainable, and coaches believe it could lead to the revival or creation of football programs for smaller schools all around the state.
Nikiski head coach Matthew Trammell just finished his second full season at the helm of the program after two years as an assistant coach. He said he was a little apprehensive of making the transition to 9-man football at first.“For the most part, it is exactly the same as 11-man, and I think it’s where we as a program belong,” he said.
“When you look at how big we are and how spread out we are as a state, a lot of places in the Lower 48 could have co-op teams when they have schools that are just 30 minutes away,” he said.
The only potential big hurdles coaches foresee would be the cost of travel for communities that aren’t accessible by roads and the construction of facilities such as football fields and bleachers. During their coaches all-conference meeting, they found that about 15 to 20 schools fit the ideal size and population to sustain a team. Trammell mentioned Sitka, Anchorage Christian School and Delta as schools that used to have football programs and might be candidates to return with 9-man.Another long-term goal is to have a conference and championships be both recognized and sanctioned through the Alaska School Activities Association. That requires more widespread growth.
The biggest reason that Monroe Catholic, which had hoped to join the 9-man ranks, wasn’t able to field a team the past two seasons is because there hasn’t been a head coach to lead the program — not because of a lack of interested student athletes.Siddall started his position on Aug. 14 of this year after the football season had already gotten underway.
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