Ocala Christian Academy, St. John Lutheran find success with shift to 8-man football

Ocala Christian Academy’s Logan Forella (3) runs the ball down the field for a touchdown to make it 46-0 over Foundation Christian Academy during first half action, Friday, September 17, 2021 at Ocala Christian Academy in Ocala, Florida. The CrusadersÕ undefeated season is still intact after beating the Panthers 64-0. [Cyndi Chambers/Correspondent] 2021

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Posted November 19, 2021 | By Joel Bronson

joel@ocalagazette.com

In the state of Florida, football is king.

This holds true in Marion County, where Friday night football is must see sports for many residents.

There are ten high schools in Marion County that field football teams annually. Traditional powerhouses Vanguard, North Marion, Dunnellon and Trinity Catholic regularly produce playoff teams that make deep runs towards a state championship.

Smaller schools, like Ocala Christian Academy and St. John Lutheran, historically find it difficult to suit up enough kids to play traditional 11-man football. Lack of depth and injuries often cut seasons short, and a lack of sustainability and continuity can severely cripple a football program’s viability and longevity.

As a possible solution, both OCA and St. John made the decision to go from 11-man football programs to 8-man this past season.

And both found the experiment to be a success.

Ocala Christian Academy

Jim Pierce, first year head coach of the Crusaders, has coached football and other high school sports for 30 years. But Pierce was unfamiliar with 8-man football going into the 2021 season.

“I had no prior 8-man football coaching experience,” Pierce said. “But football is football, in my opinion.”

While there may be three less players on each side of the line of scrimmage, the fundamentals of blocking and tackling are still paramount to success. These fundamentals were key for the Crusaders in 2021.

“Football is all about blocking and tackling, no matter how many players line up on each side,” Pierce shared. “We won games with sound fundamentals.”

The field is not as wide for 8-man football, while some teams choose to play on an 80-yard field and some stick with the 100-yard option.

Also, there are also no kickoffs in 8-man, eliminating the most injurious part of football according to many football coaches and pundits.

Overall, Pierce believes that 8-man football is safer than traditional 11-man football.

“There are three less players on each side,” Pierce said. “That’s three less players coming from all directions. If football can be ‘safer’, I believe this makes it so.”

Even with the move to 8-man, the roster was still lacking in numbers going into the Crusaders’ season opener against Riverside Christian. After a close 28-26 victory, an influx of players began to show up at practice.

The additions to the roster proved beneficial during OCA’s undefeated run during the regular season.

“We started the season with 23 players on roster and ended the season with 18 healthy players,” Pierce said. “We lost two kids to injury in the playoff game.”

Pierce also credits his assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Daniel Young and defensive coordinator Jesse Bloom, with the team’s success and cohesiveness.

“Our assistant coaches were invaluable to our success this season,” Pierce said. “I relied on them for so much. I trusted them to do their jobs while I oversaw everything on game days.”

The coaching staff had a bevvy of capable players on both offense and defense. A few seniors stepped up and proved invaluable.

Senior running back Keiron Williams rushed for just under 2200 yards in 11 games.

The Crusaders defense was stingy, led by senior defensive end Logan Forella’s 16 quarterback sacks. Trey Woods, a fellow senior defensive end, recorded 11 sacks on the season.

Pierce credits a cohesive group of young men for the overall team success.

“I asked our players to focus on playing for someone besides themselves,” he added. “Play for mom and dad, play for your teammates, play for God.”

The Crusaders ended the regular season a perfect 10-0 and were the 3-seed going into postseason play. A close loss to Shorecrest Prep ended their magical run, but Coach Pierce believes that the building blocks are in place for another run in 2022 and beyond.

The Crusaders plan to stay with 8-man football for 2022, but that could change based on how many student-athletes come out for spring.

“There is a limit of 25 players on an 8-man roster. We will need to see how many kids come out for spring ball before making any decisions on moving back to 11-man,” Pierce said.

St. John Lutheran

The St. John Lutheran Saints started their journey into 8-man football with the same issues that hindered Ocala Christian Academy. Some additional unforeseen early season road bumps proved to be challenging.

Prior to the first game of the season, the Saints head coach unexpectedly resigned. The athletic director and assistant coaches still on staff scrambled to solve the issue.

It was decided that assistant coach Kreighton Rahn, a three-year assistant and faculty member, would lead the Saints into the 2021 season.

While Rahn took the title, he credits assistants Jerry Jones, Joe McKellar and Buddy Karolev with keeping the season on track.

“I give full credit to our assistants for the success we had this past season. It was a total team effort,” he said.

While the coaching situation was solved, the lack of players on the roster was still an issue.

The Saints added student-athletes from nearby Redeemer Christian School, which did not have a football program.

The rules state that a school can accept student-athletes from another school, so long as that school does not field a team. This allowed St. John Lutheran to welcome student-athletes from Redeemer.

But how would St. John players feel about student-athletes from another school coming in to play?

“Our players were very excited to have the Redeemer kids come over,” Rahn said. “We had four Redeemer kids play with us, and those young men saved our season. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to field a team.”

“They fit right in with us personality-wise. We didn’t have to do anything as coaches to integrate them into the team.”

The Saints offense was led by junior quarterback Grant Phillips. Phillips threw for 736 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season, while senior quarterback Ryan Cubbedge chipped in with three touchdown passes.

Junior running back Landon Pindell rushed for a team leading 743 yards and scored eight touchdowns.

Defensively, sophomore defensive back Titus Williams led the team with 70 total tackles. Junior end Gene Hill led the team in sacks with seven.

St. John won only two games from 2018-2020. In 2021, with the move to 8-man, the Saints finished with a 4-5 record overall and 2-2 in district play.

The Saints qualified for the Sunshine State Athletic Conference 2A playoffs, losing to Lake Mary Prep 46-28 after a closely contested first three quarters.

The future of the Saints football program is bright, with 12 players returning from the 2021 squad.

Even with the success of the 2021 campaign, Rahn said he does not plan on returning as the head coach.

“We’re looking to hire a permanent head coach during this offseason,” Rahn said.

Rahn stated that he would be open to returning as an assistant if the new head coach so desires.

The 2021 season for the Crusaders and Saints should serve as the blueprint for schools who are struggling to field 11-man football programs. And both head coaches will attest, 8-man football is just as viable and exciting for players and fans, alike.

Both the Crusaders and Saints will open spring football practice in April 2022.