6 Man

For grades 7 and 8 I went to school in Veribest, TX. It is a small, unicorporated community about 6 or 7 miles east of San Angelo. I think there were maybe 12 kids in my grade both years I was there. Schools of this size don't produce enough players to fill an 11 man roster, so they have to play six man football.

When I was in seventh grade, Veribest didn't have its own team yet (it didn't even have a high school then). Instead, we had to play for Paint Rock Middle School in Paint Rock, TX. This setup meant taking a bus another 20 miles east every afternoon for practice.

Here's a map.


In eighth grade, we finally got our own football team. Falcon football hit the big time. Just so you are aware of the talent level we were dealing with, I was a starting back. Yeah, we were bad.

Six man is a helluva fun game to play. Offensively, you have to line up 3 on the line, and 3 in the backfield. Everyone is an eligible receiver, but the person to whom the ball is snapped can't advance it unless he first tosses it or hands it off to another player, then has it passed back to him. Basically, you end up with every permutation of option/sweep ball imaginable, along with a few post routes for good measure, in an ultra fast paced game.

You play on an 80 yard field, and it takes 15 yards for a first down. If I remember correctly, you get two points for kicking the PAT, and only one for running a play - reversal of normal 11 man. Also, there was a mercy rule - if you are losing by something like 40 points by haltime, you lose nad the game is over. We got shown the mercy more than a couple times.

Some teams I remember playing against are Blackwell, Panther Creek, Eden, Rochelle, Abilene Christian, Iraan, and our arch-rivals, the Olfen Mustangs. For a look inside a small town six man team, watch this video about Blackwell. Veribest is even featured as their opponent in the second half of the show (blue and gold team).

Warning: it's a fucking tearjerker.



This one's a little more glorious: