6 man football in Apple Springs

[Jasperfan]

Just saw this posted on DETXsports and thought it was pretty interesting. Something to think about for the smaller schools in the area.

APPLE SPRINGS — It was about as dead as dead can be, all but given last rites by a clergyman wearing a "UIL" cap. Only a wake remained, and the pallbearers were already lining up.

Football was dead in Apple Springs. Fielding a full 11-man football team in this tiny school had become impossible. With no more than 14 or 15 kids carried on the roster, and with the inevitable injuries and/or grade casualties, the Class 1A Eagles found themselves forced to forfeit games late in the season; for two straight years, the Eagles failed to complete their full schedule. By seasons' ends, there just weren't enough players, even with every kid playing both sides of the ball.

Gary Stallard/The Lufkin Daily News

(ENLARGE)

Players from Apple Springs and King?s Academy kneel for a postgame prayer Friday night following the Eagles? 54-6 win. Eagles pictured are Trenton Holman (11) and Cody Henderson (7).

Gary Stallard/The Lufkin Daily News

(ENLARGE)

The Hudson Hornet band plays in support of the Apple Springs football team. The Hornet band has performed at halftime of every Eagles? home game.

The school board found itself forced into a heartbreaking decision. They'd have to drop football. All the school pride in the world couldn't justify the expense of fielding a team that couldn't take the field when it was supposed to.

So it was over. No more ''Friday Night Lights'' in Apple Springs. The folks of this little town would have to find another way to entertain themselves; of feeding their school spirit. But how? Drive up or down the highway, heading east or west, and cheer for a team whose kids they didn't know?

It wouldn't be the same. Anyone who loves high school football would tell you so. Part of the game's allure is seeing your own kids on the field — players, cheerleaders, managers, whatever. It's preparing for the week by painting signs to hang in the hallways. It's after-school practices on the field, and cheer practice in the gym. It's pep rallies and road trips and concession stands.

It's football. But not any more. Not in Apple Springs. The Eagles were finished. DOA.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust ...

But then, miraculously, someone detected a faint beat in the school's football-shaped heart. An idea borne from a few stubborn football lovers acted as some sort of defibrillator, jump starting the pulse that beat Eagle blue.

And before you knew it, the Eagle became a Phoenix, rising from the ashes of its dispirited demise.

———

When Apple Springs superintendent Gregg Spivey contacted Cody Moree about a job in the spring of 2005, he did so offering Moree the interim principal position. Moree, who had been a football coach in Huntington before spending several years in the ministry, agreed. At that time, there was no real discussion of football.

When Moree arrived, he discovered why. He learned of the Eagles' disappointments over the past two seasons, how they couldn't field a full team for the entire schedule.

Somehow, during a casual conversation, the idea arose: What about six-man football? More than 110 small schools across Texas participate in this form of the sport; the UIL has divided those schools into their own classification, broken down into Division I and Division II.

So far, just like "real" football.

But who in the area would know enough about six-man football to want to see it played live?

People desperate to keep a team in play. People like the folks of Apple Springs.

Moree and Spivey pled their case to the school board, who had already voted to cease and desist the football program — granted, against their own wishes, but the best decision for the school at the time.

"The board really had no choice, but it was killing them," Moree recalls. "But I spoke to Gregg (Spivey), and he was really interested in pursuing the six-man status. I had a football background, and we both knew how good it would be for the school and the community as a whole."

The board had their doubts. Where would they find opponents? How far would they have to travel for road games? Is the six-man game really football?

Spivey, Moree and others gathered the numbers. According to Moree, it wasn't as tough as starting from scratch. The school already had most of its equipment and a stadium — the two biggest expenses for virgin programs. A lengthy search found several private schools in the Houston and Tyler areas already playing six-man football.

The board approved the decision. Apple Springs would attempt the six-man game, albeit without a district to call home. For their first season, the Eagles were Outlaws, playing an "outlaw" schedule to see if this idea would fly.

It flew. Apple Springs won every game on its outlaw schedule.

"Before we actually started playing, there was a lot of anxiety," Moree says. "Nobody knew what to expect. But once we hit the field, the kids realized, 'Hey, this is still football.' They were still blocking and tackling, and it was still hot."

And as the season progressed, more and more people attended the games, as much from curiosity as from any sense of school spirit. Soon, the people began loving their team again — and the game they played.

Next came the petition to the UIL. Would the governing body of Texas high school athletics consider placing Apple Springs in a six-man district, allowing the Eagles' players to experience the postseason if they qualified?

The petition went out in October. The answer wouldn't come until the UIL announced its realignment in February. Five long months of waiting.

It was worth the wait. The Eagles learned in February they'd be part of Conference 1A, Six-Man. Apple Springs was placed in Region 3, District 12, with Ladonia Fannindale, Milford and Morgan. In their first full season, the Eagles made the playoffs, advancing to the second round before falling to eventual state champ Vernon Northside.

Maybe they'll meet again. Maybe the Eagles will have an opportunity to play for a state championship.

So far, they're 5-0 in 2007.

———

When it comes to football, there are the clear differences between a small school and a larger one. The "ground crew" for this game in Apple Springs consists of a young man with a shovel and a wheelbarrow filled with sand for filling in various holes in the turf. There are no headsets on the coaches' heads; no signals coming from the press box. The coach — Moree — calls his plays based on what he sees on the field. There's a toolbox on the sideline for repairing gear. On one play, an Eagle player will search desperately for a screwdriver, just so he can keep his chinstrap fastened to his helmet.

Add to these the numerous differences between the 11-man and six-man games. Start with the obvious: Only six players on the field per team. Six on offense, six on defense.

Talk about wide-open spaces.

But get this: Every player on the offense is eligible to touch the ball. Even the center, once he's snapped the ball, can head out on a pass pattern. Kids who enter the game late do so not as perfunctory substitutions, but as players to whom the ball is very likely to come via pass or lateral. They'd better be ready to run when they get the chance.

There are other elements strange to the 11-man fan. It's not first-and-10. It's first-and-15. There's always a player lined up behind the quarterback; the rule states you can't advance the ball until "after an exchange between the receiver of the snap and another player." So you'll see a player taking the snap and turning to pitch the ball to someone else. Every time.

There's also a 45-point rule. Any team leading by 45 points — this can happen before the half — is declared the winner. Makes for some short games some nights in Apple Springs. The Eagles have "45-pointed" four of their five opponents.

Some of the action on the field is the same as any other football game: Running, passing, blocking, tackling. Yet so much is different. The potential exists on any given down for 80- or 90-yard scoring plays. There's plenty of real open-field tackling.

It's football, but not the type to which most people have grown accustomed.

Begging the question: Would the people of Apple Springs embrace this hybrid version of their beloved sport?

Had you shown up this past Friday night, the answer would have come to you loud and clear, in the form of a resounding "Let's go, Eagles!" war chant.

The tiny stadium was packed to the brim. Bleachers filled with blue T-shirts. The fences lined with lawn chairs, these fans so close they don't just see and hear the action, they feel it, every pop of the pads, every bodily collision. The parking lot full of pickups backed up as close to the field as possible, loaded with fans sitting on the tailgates.

A sellout crowd at the stadium that was nothing more than dead space just two years before.

They're not just embracing six-man football in Apple Springs. They're squeezing it for all it's worth.

———

Apple Springs isn't the only school benefiting from this resurgence.

When Moree and Spivey dreamed their dream of reviving football, they had no idea they'd be responsible for making some other kids' dreams come true as well.

Apple Springs now had a football team — but they didn't have a band. How can you have a high school football team without a band?

Ah, but wait. Hudson High School, just down the road on state Highway 94, has an amazing, award-winning band. They just don't have a football team. How can you have a high school band without a football team?

A match made in heaven.

Hudson band director Brad Comeaux put his head together with Spivey and Moree.

Now, the Eagles have a band, and the Hornets have a team.

The Hornet Band performs for every home game. And on this Friday night, the Hornet band enjoys its status as the only band in town. With six minutes remaining in the first half, the band vacates its seats across from the fans — the band has been chanting "Let's go, Eagles!" all game long — and takes the field. Rather than split the allotted 15 minutes of performance time, the Hornet band will have the field to itself.

And oh, do they take full advantage of that situation.

The band marches to several impressive formations. There's a trumpet solo, and a performance by a full squad of twirlers. The Hudson Highlighter Drill Team gets in on the act. There's a rousing beat brought on by the Drum Line that gets the audience stomping those old bleachers like crazy.

Not a single fan leaves his or her seat during the show. It's "their" band, and they're enjoying every minute of it.

"The Hudson band has been absolutely phenomenal," Moree says. "In a couple of the games where we 45-point ruled a team, our guys wouldn't leave the field. They wanted to stay and watch the Hudson band perform.

"They're such a big part of this whole experience."

Maybe they know what it's like not having a football team.

———

So the Eagles are back. Their fans are back. Those wondrous smells indigenous to high school football — corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy — are back, wafting again over the crowd; for some reason, those aromas are stronger, more distinct, as if their absence created an even deeper hunger than before.

Fans are on their feet, stomping and clapping. Kids have painted their faces Eagle blue and white.

They're back, and because of this a group of kids gets to experience all that is high school football. Tonight, they're even able to celebrate Homecoming. The Court of young ladies, arm-in-arm with their player escorts, parades before the crowd of photographers. The crowd cheers its approval as the school crowns the lovely Checovia Louis Homecoming Sweetheart. Her face beams as she receives the tiara from her predecessor.

As the game winds its way to a fitting end — the Eagles have soared to a 54-6 win to remain undefeated — and players from both teams kneel for a post-game prayer, an enormous full moon rises over the trees surrounding the little stadium. It's as if even the heavens want to see just what all the noise coming from this little pocket of East Texas is all about.

After all, it was pretty quiet around here for a couple of years.

[Guest TravelingBandsman]

There aren't any Six-Man teams in the SETX coverage area are there?

That sucks. It'd be cool to support one if they were in our area.

[24 over par]

guess we will al just have to go to apple springs one friday nite

we are off this week where does apple springs play

[Guest maverick24]

Glad these kids get a chance to play!! I remember when A.S. was a force in 1A nice to see them back playing ball again!!

[sixmansdcoach]

I've coached six man before and it is exciting, These guys are looking good, but not as exciting as Leverittes Chapel

[WOS87]

There are NO 6-man teams even within several hundred miles of SE Texas....  Apple Springs has huge distances to travel just for their district games.

This is a map showing every 6-man Division II program in the state.  Green is Region I (Districts 1-4), Blue is Region II (Districts 5-8), Yellow is Region III (Districts 9-12) and Red is Region IV (Districts 13-16). 

Apple Springs is in the same district with Milford, Ladonia-Fannindel and Morgan (which isn't visible, but you can see the edge of its yellow marker.  It's right near Milford and is covered up by the label for Iredell).  Apple Springs is in the same region with teams that are on the outskirts of Lubbock!

[BearWolf]

I applaud you

[Jasperfan]

There are NO 6-man teams even within several hundred miles of SE Texas....  Apple Springs has huge distances to travel just for their district games.

This is a map showing every 6-man Division II program in the state.  Green is Region I (Districts 1-4), Blue is Region II (Districts 5-8), Yellow is Region III (Districts 9-12) and Red is Region IV (Districts 13-16). 

Apple Springs is in the same district with Milford, Ladonia-Fannindel and Morgan (which isn't visible, but you can see the edge of its yellow marker.  It's right near Milford and is covered up by the label for Iredell).  Apple Springs is in the same region with teams that are on the outskirts of Lubbock!

You are correct, but I believe that there are enough schools with small enrollments around here to make a district by itself (chester, sabine pass, high island,apple springs). I'm sure there are others as well. There would still be problems with preseason and playoff travel, but it is still better than losing a program. 

[sixmansdcoach]

It would be great if these teams went six man.  I'm not sure how their coaches would like, but I for one would love it.

[BIGMO44]

There are plenty around our area.

Apple Springs

Brookland

Broaddous

Spurger

Chester (although they seem to be building right now)

Zavalla

Big Sandy

Would love to see it happen. The start-up cost may be a problem.