Six-Man Football

   Six-man football is for towns too small to field an 11-man team. In this fast-moving variant of football, all players are eligible to catch and run with the ball. Six-man teams compete on a field a little shorter at 80 yards and a little narrower at 40 yards than that of conventional football.
   Six-man football started in Chester, Nebraska in 1933 during the Depression. Stephen Epler, a Chester High School coach, worked out the ground rules. The size of a team was fixed at six players because that would allow an even split of ends and the backfield. The trend was quick to catch on at small schools across the country. Hundreds of teams played in Texas through the 1950s. As schools consolidated and grew, 11-man teams became the norm and six-man teams all but disappeared except in West Texas where sheer distance discouraged school consolidation.
   Six-man football was officially sanctioned by the UIL in 1972. Fans can easily follow the tremendous effort of boys who play both offense and defense. Famous for its high scores, mercy is built into six-man ball. The "slaughter rule" stops a game when one team leads by 45 points.
   Coach Vance Jones took neighboring Marathon to state each year between 1973 and 1977 and won the State Championship in 1974 and 1976. Coach Jones was eagerly welcomed to Sanderson when the Eagles switched to six-man. In 2002, the Eagles went to State, but returned home disappointed by a 51-46 narrow defeat by Calvert. Six-Man Illustrated magazine named Calvert the 2002 State Champions by the narrowest margin in the poll's 10-year history.
   The Eagles still have their eye on a future State Championship.