THE VANISHING MARGIN | PART 3 OF 3
For this series, Lee Patterson sent questions to the head coach and athletic director at every current Arizona 1A football program. He also sought perspective from schools that no longer field varsity teams. This final installment examines what schools, communities and the Arizona Interscholastic Association can do to preserve eight-man football.
By Lee Patterson
By the time a football program reaches the edge, there is rarely one decision that brought it there and rarely one solution capable of pulling it back.
That is the challenge facing Arizona eight-man football. Some schools have students who need to be recruited. Others have already asked nearly every eligible boy in the building. Some need stronger youth programs or more stable coaching. Others may need cooperative teams, six-man football or a different classification structure.
Maryvale Prep found one answer.
Thomas Barringer, head football coach at Maryvale Prep, and his staff finished the 2024 season with only 12 players. Rather than wait for participation to improve on its own, the coaches set a minimum of 15 registered athletes for the following year and told families the program would not continue without them.
They reached exactly 15.
Maryvale Prep used a junior varsity schedule to give its young players meaningful experience. Participation increased to 20 in 2025, and the Patriots now expect approximately 30 players while planning to field varsity and JV teams.
“There is no 1A football program who is so good that they don’t have to recruit their own students anymore,” Barringer said.
Barringer asks students directly whether they have considered playing football. He also believes programs must give young athletes enough meaningful playing time to make the commitment worthwhile.
“You also have to play your young athletes,” he said.
Maryvale Prep’s recovery is encouraging, but its circumstances are not universal. A Phoenix school may have students in its hallways who have never considered football. A school with an entire high school enrollment in the 30s may already know every possible player by name.
The lesson is not that every program should copy Maryvale Prep. It is that a struggling program cannot assume its roster will repair itself.
Doug Meyer, president of Arizona Lutheran Academy and a longtime former 1A head football coach, believes sustainable programs begin with continuity.
“Coaching stability and administrative support is the main factor in creating a sustainable program,” Meyer said.
A stable coaching staff can build relationships with students and families before a roster reaches crisis level. Administrative support gives coaches time to develop younger players rather than asking them to immediately carry a varsity team.
Meyer also believes junior varsity football can be an important part of that development. A JV schedule gives younger athletes competitive experience while allowing them to grow physically and learn the game at an appropriate pace.
Valley Union is taking that approach this season. The Blue Devils stepped away from varsity competition after graduating nine starting seniors and will attempt to rebuild through a JV schedule. Maryvale Prep proved that such a season can become a bridge back, although no school is guaranteed to reach the other side.
Dalton Mills, head football coach at Bagdad High School, believes the foundation must be laid even earlier.
“Youth programs are huge,” Mills said. “We need community and traditions to be built locally.”
Bagdad has long been one of Arizona’s strongest eight-man programs, yet the Sultans expect between 17 and 20 players this season after traditionally carrying between 27 and 30.
“The league is slowly dissipating,” Mills said. “We need to find ways to grow the league.”
Youth football can introduce children to the sport before other activities claim their attention. It can connect families with coaches and make Friday nights something young students grow up expecting to experience themselves.
It cannot prevent families from moving or guarantee that every child will continue playing through high school. It can, however, give a program a better place to begin.
Billy Duarte, principal and athletic director at Superior High School, believes the work must extend beyond the football field.
“When I answer this question, I do it with no prejudice to any other sport we offer, but football drives the entire athletic program,” Duarte said.
At many small schools, football produces the largest crowds and strongest gate revenue. Duarte believes local businesses and alumni can help provide resources small districts may not be able to create alone.
He also emphasizes year-round strength training.
“Prioritize your weight room and address year-round strength training,” Duarte said. “You need that physical armor to prevent injuries and create great athleticism.”
His broader point is that small-school athletic programs must work together. Football, basketball, wrestling, baseball and other sports often depend on the same students. Coaches cannot sustain their programs by treating multi-sport athletes as property to be guarded from one another.
The uniforms change throughout the year. The students do not.
Adam Gibson, head football coach at Mohave Accelerated, believes greater visibility could also help eight-man football. More coverage can provide recognition for players who might disappear on a larger roster and show families that the smaller game is not an inferior one.
Kendrick Felix, head football coach at Desert Heights Prep, believes that perception remains a serious obstacle.
“Eight-man is kind of frowned upon in the state of Arizona,” Felix said. “Parents and athletes don’t respect eight-man as much as they would 11-man.”
That stigma can cost current programs players and discourage struggling 11-man schools from considering eight-man football, even when the smaller game might better fit their roster.
Barringer (Maryvale Prep) has seen players transfer to larger programs because they believed it would improve their college opportunities. He has also seen the reverse.
One player arrived at Maryvale Prep from a 6A school after feeling overlooked. At Maryvale Prep, he received meaningful playing time and eventually reached a Division III college football program.
Eight-man football did not limit his opportunity. It created one.
Stories like that may help change the classification’s image, but recruiting and promotion alone will not solve every problem. Some schools may need Arizona to reconsider how its smallest football programs are organized.
Braden Davis, head football coach at St. David High School, has discussed the possibility of creating another small-school 11-man level for stronger eight-man programs and smaller 2A teams. Programs could move between levels based partly on competitive success, while the smallest schools remained in eight-man or possibly moved to six-man football.
Such a structure might improve competitive balance, but Davis cautioned that realignment cannot create athletes where too few students exist.
“The smaller and struggling teams may just not have enough kids to even field a team,” he said.
Davis has also suggested that successful Canyon Athletic Association programs could strengthen the AIA’s eight-man classification. Ajo and Gila Bend now compete in the CAA, and other programs outside the AIA could provide additional opponents if they chose to move.
The movement could eventually go the other way. AIA schools unable to sustain their current schedules may look toward the CAA as another way to preserve football.
Either direction would help some programs and potentially weaken the association they leave behind.
Chris Lentz, athletic director for the San Simon Unified School District, believes six-man football deserves serious consideration. San Simon has not fielded a tackle-football team in at least seven years, and its high school enrollment has remained in the low-to-mid 30s.
Six-man football would reduce the number of athletes needed to compete and could provide a path back for schools where a sustainable eight-man roster is no longer realistic.
It would also require communities to accept a different version of the game.
Lentz has also raised cooperative teams and flag football as possibilities. Cooperative programs can combine two schools that cannot build rosters independently, although distance, transportation and competitive fairness can make those partnerships difficult.
Flag football could lower participation and injury barriers, but it would not preserve the tackle-football tradition many communities are trying to save.
Every option brings a tradeoff.
Six-man football changes the game. Cooperative teams may create competitive concerns. Moving programs between classifications does not solve low enrollment. Greater coverage cannot place students in schools where there are too few.
Felix (Desert Heights Prep) was asked what schools, communities or the AIA could do to reverse the decline.
“There’s nothing that can be done,” he said.
His answer stands apart from the recruiting plans, youth programs and structural ideas offered by others, but it reflects a reality that optimism cannot erase. A coach can recruit every hallway, a school can build a youth program and a community can support its team, yet the roster may still fall short.
Jim Dean, Ed.D., executive director of the Arizona Interscholastic Association, does not believe eight-man football has reached the end of its road.
“The AIA is committed to seeing the continued success of eight-man football throughout the state,” Dean said. “We look forward to working with our schools to continue its success and showcase the resilience, athleticism and continued tradition of their student-athletes on the field.”
That commitment may eventually require difficult decisions involving appeals, cooperative programs, postseason eligibility and whether Arizona needs another version of small-school football.
There may never be one statewide answer.
Maryvale Prep needed direct recruiting and a JV schedule. Bagdad wants stronger youth programs and deeper local traditions. Superior sees community partnerships and year-round development. Mohave Accelerated wants greater visibility. St. David sees possible structural changes. San Simon sees six-man football as a possible path back.
Each idea addresses a different part of the problem, and none can guarantee that every program will survive.
Eight-man football has always asked a small number of people to do more. Players stay on the field in multiple roles. Coaches adjust to the athletes available. Communities provide what larger schools receive through enrollment and resources.
The programs must now show that same flexibility.
Some will recruit another player. Some will rebuild through JV. Some may combine with another school or adopt a smaller version of the game. Some may not return.
The classification does not need every school to find the same solution. It needs enough schools to find one that works.
The map has grown larger, the rosters have grown thinner and the margin between playing and disappearing has nearly vanished. Yet the lights are still on in communities across Arizona, and players are still running beneath them.
Tradition alone will not preserve eight-man football. Its future belongs to the schools willing to change enough to keep that tradition alive.
The margin is vanishing, but the game is not gone.
Editor’s note: Quotes provided in written responses have been lightly edited for grammar, punctuation and clarity without changing their meaning.
Disclosure: Patterson played eight-man football at Valley Union High School during the 1990s.
