“Going from 11 to 9-man isn’t necessarily like going from 11 to 6. It’s only two less kids,” he said. “If we can find 13 to 15 kids that want to play, we want to have football.

“For the most part, it is exactly the same as 11-man, and I think it’s where we as a program belong,” he said. For his players, “it’s still just football,” and nothing has really changed.

The change to 9-man football for 2A schools brings an end to the months-long discussion of the OSAA’s Football Ad Hoc Committee as it looked over football programs at the state’s smallest schools.