E AST O REGONIAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022
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A8
Nine-man football back on the table
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
WILSONVILLE — Nine-
man football appears to be
back on the discussion — at
least at the 2A level — in a
move that would have a major
impact locally if put in place.
But it’s a move Greg Grant,
Heppner athletic director and
football coach, and a member
of the Oregon School Activ-
ities Association’s Football
Ad Hoc Committee, believes
is necessary to help build
programs back up.
“It’s to help everyone.
The impetus behind this is
that with roster sizes, schools
are making decisions and
foregoing JV football at a
higher rate,” he said. “If
you don’t play JV football,
your program is dying, and
sub-varsity football is the life-
blood of your program.”
The outcome of the latest
meeting on Wednesday,
Jan. 19, was that the commit-
tee is again considering the
addition of nine-man football.
In fact, the committee
recommends nine-man for
all 2A schools — schools
that play 11-man currently. It
continues to back the idea of
eight-man football for larger
1A schools and six-man for
the smaller schools.
“The idea behind this
amongst a lot of the schools
is we could play JV games
if we had a few more kids
available,” Grant explained.
“If you play nine on a Friday
night (varsity game), then
you can play nine or eight on
a Monday (JV game). … Let’s
say (with) a roster of 20-30
kids, you could sustain JV
football. And that’s the goal.”
Considered, dropped,
then brought back
Nine-man football was
considered early on by the
ad hoc committee, as it was
looking at implementing the
setup for larger 1A schools
and all 2A schools, a move
that would have, in effect,
nixed eight-man football alto-
gether.
But a survey of 1A schools
found they overwhelmingly
supported sticking with eight-
man as opposed to nine-man.
In the Jan. 5 meeting of the
ad hoc committee, it appeared
that nine-man talk had been
shelved altogether.
Instead, the commit-
tee cited support among 2A
schools of adjusting to nine-
man in its reasoning for
bringing it back to the table.
“The group reviewed
correspondence and testi-
mony from members of the
2A classifi cation indicating
that a majority of schools
surveyed supported moving
to the 9-player game for the
next time block,” the commit-
tee wrote in its update.
A regional eff ect
The change, if imple-
mented, would have an
impact in the region. The
Blue Mountain Confer-
ence, as it is set to stand in
the fall, has several Umatilla
and Morrow county schools,
including Irrigon, Heppner,
Riverside, Stanfi eld, Umatilla
and Weston-McEwen. Enter-
prise and Grant Union round
out what the BMC would look
like, though Enterprise has
been an eight-man team the
last four years, and still has
the option to play down.
However, at the nine-man
level, there would be fl exibil-
ity for schools to play some
11-man contests — Grant said
Heppner already is slated to
play Warrenton and Kennedy
this fall, and that those will
be 11-man games — or, if
needed, drop a player off to
play an eight-man team.
“I fully believe there are
going to be some nine-man
schools that are going to play
some neighboring eight-man
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Weston-McEwen’s Blane Peal (14) runs the ball Nov. 13, 2021, against the Heppner Mustangs
in the quarterfi nal round of the Oregon School Activities Association Class 2A state football
tournament at Les Payne Field in Heppner. The OSAA Football Ad Hoc Committee now rec-
ommends nine-man football for all 2A schools beginning this fall.
schools,” Grant said, noting
for example that Columbia
Basin schools who are at
nine-man could, in theory,
play eight-man schools in the
Grande Ronde Valley. “They
are appropriate regional
matchups.”
And while there may be
some pushback, Grant said
the move will hopefully help
the sport in the long run.
“The idea is not about our
school and about our classifi -
cation, it’s about what can we
do to improve the number of
kids playing,” he said. “Here
we go. We’re going to give it a
shot, and I’m going to explain
to people in my football crazy
town that we’re going to put
two fewer kids on the fi eld.
I’m not crazy about it, but
I know it’s for the greater
good.”
Umatilla High School
head football coach Chad
Smith said moving 2A
schools to nine-man would
aff ect his team, which is 3A,
but has been playing down to
2A in football.
Last year, Umatilla
fi nished with 26 players, he
said, the highest in some time.
“Right now, our goal is to
get 30 to 35,” he said.
While that gives Umatilla
enough to field 11 players
at a time, he said, many 2A
schools struggle to have
that many players. Umatilla
played smaller Gaston last
season, Smith said, and this
year Gaston is on the schedule
to play in Umatilla. The team
already reached out to say it
can’t play 11-man football.
Playing nine-man means
some Umatilla players won’t
have the opportunities to
gain experience, he said, but
dropping to nine players is
not nearly as diffi cult as going
from 11 to eight. He said that’s
a “huge transition.”
When the fi nal decision
comes down, Smith said,
Umatilla obviously will
adjust as needed.
“I understand where
they’re coming from, he
said. “I’m just torn for what it
means for us.”
Six-man title supported
Additionally, the commit-
tee said it is fully supporting
A Mystery by
Agatha
Christie
Bend’s Tommy Ford is headed
to his 3rd Winter Olympics
Ford’s nomination to the
team comes as somewhat of
a surprise because he has not
BEND — A little more raced at all on the World Cup
than a year after suff ering a this season. In fact, he has not
devastating knee injury and raced a World Cup since Jan.
being airlifted from a Swiss 9, 2021, when he had a horrifi c
mountainside, Bend’s Tommy crash in Adelboden, Switzer-
Ford is writing the ultimate land, in the midst of a banner
comeback story: He’s headed year. He was knocked uncon-
to his third Winter Olympics. scious and suff ered signifi cant
Ford, 32, and a life-
injuries to his knee,
long Bend resident,
wrist and head.
was included among
The past year
the six men named
has been a painful,
often emotional chal-
to the U.S. Olympic
Alpine Team by U.S.
lenge for Ford, who
Ski & Snowboard on
has dealt with bouts
Friday, Jan. 21. The
of depression while
Ford
simultaneously reha-
Beijing Games are
set for Feb. 4-20, and
bilitating his knee so
the men’s giant slalom, Ford’s he can return to racing.
specialty, is scheduled for Feb.
Before the crash, Ford had
13.
posted four World Cup top-10
Ford has reached the Olym- results in giant slalom in the
pics again after enduring four 2020-21 season, including a
surgeries and a concussion he podium fi nish.
He was on his way to one
is still recovering from.
“This is such a cool oppor- of the best seasons of his long
tunity!” Ford was quoted in career.
a press release Jan. 21 from
Ford said he tore two liga-
U.S. Ski and Snowboard. ments in his right knee, broke
“I’m stoked to be a part of the his tibial plateau and tore his
team. It is freeing to be able meniscus. After his surgeries,
to do what I know how to do he spent most of the off season
with the support of those who home in Bend recovering.
“I’m feeling more and more
believe in it.”
By MARK MORICAL
The Bulletin
normal,” Ford said in an inter-
view with The Bulletin one
month ago. “I’m able to ski in a
comfortable way, and I’m just
trying to push back into some
training and run some gates.
The knee’s been feeling really
good and responding really
well to training.”
Ford was fi rst able to get
back on snow in mid-Novem-
ber at the U.S. Ski Team train-
ing camp in Copper, Colorado.
“That was wonderful,” he
said. “The fi rst couple days
were pretty slow, just sliding
around and getting comfort-
able. Once I started to go faster
and link some turns, it was a
really neat reminder of why I
ski.”
Ford — who grew up
racing for the Bend-based Mt.
Bachelor Sports Education
Foundation — competed in
the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver, British Columbia,
and the 2018 Games in Pyeo-
ngchang, South Korea. Racing
in giant slalom, he fi nished
26th at Vancouver and 20th
at Pyeongchang. He did not
compete in the 2014 Winter
Olympics in Sochi, Russia,
because he was recovering
from a broken leg he suff ered
while freeskiing in France.
making six-man football a
sanctioned sport that could
play for an official OSAA
title, an option that was not
in place during the pilot
program for six-man.
That would allow Echo
back into the official title
picture on the gridiron.
The committee also made
a decision to change its
stance on playoff eligibility
for teams that do play down.
The committee elected to
drop its position from the
prior meeting and allow
teams playing down eligibil-
ity for the postseason.
“Ultimately the group
shifted their stance in this
area to recommend that
schools meeting the criteria
and choosing to play down
would be eligible for OSAA
playoffs, but that these
schools would be reviewed
on an annual basis by the
Football Ad Hoc Commit-
tee,” the update from the
OSAA said.
The committee also is
seeking feedback on a poten-
tial change to the season
schedule.
It is considering adding a
week to the beginning of the
season or to the end, making
the season 10 weeks for nine
games to be played. It says
the consideration would help
with odd-numbered leagues,
help offi cials whose ranks are
stretched thin and help with
transportation issues, among
others.
The next ad hoc commit-
tee meeting is slated for
Wednesday, Feb. 2.
— East Oregonian
news editor Phil Wright
contributed to this article.
Directed by
Produced by
Jeremy
Reed
Barbara
McKinney
ON THE SLATE
Schedule subject to change
FRIDAY, JAN. 28
Echo vs. Lyle/Wishram, 6 p.m.
THURSDAY, JAN. 27
Prep girls wrestling
Hermiston at Kennewick, 6 p.m.
Prep girls bowling
Hermiston at Atomic Bowl, Richland,
Washington, 12 p.m.
Prep boys wrestling
Hermiston at Kennewick, 6 p.m.
Prep boys wrestling
Hermiston vs. Chiawana, 7 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
Irrigon at Nyssa, 5:30 p.m.
Griswold vs. Powder Valley, 6 p.m.
Riverside at Umatilla, 6 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
Irrigon at Vale, 5 p.m.
Hermiston at Richland, 5:45 p.m.
Pilot Rock vs. Union, 6 p.m.
Heppner vs. Grant Union, 6 p.m.
Stanfi eld at Weston-McEwen, 6 p.m.
Griswold at Nixyaawii, 6 p.m.
Ione/Arlington vs. Horizon Christian,
Hood River, 6 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
Pendleton vs. Crook County, 6:30 p.m.
Irrigon at Vale, 6:30 p.m.
Griswold at Nixyaawii, 7:30 p.m.
Echo vs. Lyle/Wishram, 7:30 p.m.
Pilot Rock vs. Union, 7:30 p.m.
Heppner vs. Grant Union, 7:30 p.m.
Stanfi eld at Weston-McEwen, 7:30 p.m.
Hermiston at Richland, Washington,
7:30 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
Long Creek/Ukiah vs. Crane, 4:30 pm.
Griswold vs. Powder Valley, 7:30 pm.
Riverside at Umatilla, 7:30 p.m.
College women’s basketball
EOU vs. Bushnell, 5:30 p.m.
College men’s basketball
EOU vs. Bushnell, 7:30 p.m.
JAN. 28, 29, FEB 4, 5, 11 & 12 AT 7:30 PM. FEB. 6 & 13 AT 2 PM.
Box office hours: 6:30-7:30 pm Friday and Saturday and 1-2 pm Sunday during the weeks of the shows only.
By permission of Samuel French | 1130 E. Sumach | 509-529-3683 | Tickets: $20 | Reserve yours online at LTWW.org