UPPER LAKE >> Once a football power in the 11-man ranks, the Upper Lake High School football team and second-year head coach Frank Gudmundson are about to tackle — no pun intended — a new challenge.
Beginning this season, eight-man football makes its return to Lake County for the first time in more than 40 years. The Cougars along with nine other schools from the old North Central League II and III leagues are forming a new 10-team NCL II. Each team will play nine league games and the two schools emerging with the best records square off again Nov. 7 in the season-ending Redwood Bowl at a site to be determined.
The switch from 11-man football (which all the other Lake County schools play) to an eight-man game at Upper Lake was necessitated by declining enrollment and diminished interest in the sport. While the eight-man game isn’t new to such NCL III schools such as Anderson Valley, Laytonville and Mendocino, three of the four teams that made up last year’s NCL II — Calistoga, Tomales and Upper Lake — are playing it for the first time. St. Vincent, which is sticking with 11-man football, was rebuffed in its efforts to join the NCL I and will play against the old Bay Football League schools of California School for the Deaf, Emery, Harker, Stellar Prep and Valley Christian in 2015.
Upper Lake’s new league includes Tomales, Calistoga, Anderson Valley, Laytonville, Mendocino, Potter Valley, Round Valley, Rincon Valley Christian and Point Arena.
The Cougars’ first game is Sept. 5 against Rincon Valley Christian in Santa Rosa.
“We’ve got about 28 players out now for the program now and we’re all one varsity team,” Gudmundson said on Wednesday evening during an open field workout at the school.
While a handful of teams in the new NCL II will field JV squads, those games will be few and far between, according to Gudmundson.
“We’ll be three or four weeks into our season before we’ll need a JV team,” he said.
Freshmen are eligible to play in varsity games unless they don’t want to or their parents request they be held out, according to Gudmundson, who said in that case they would still suit up for varsity games but not be used.
“They are part of the team since they’ll be practicing with us every day, but if they are uncomfortable about playing at the varsity level, we won’t force them,” Gudmundson said.
All players will practice as one squad this season, not as separate JV and varsity teams, according to Gudmundson.
While Gudmundson and his coaching staff are still figuring out the intricacies of eight-man football, he said it will be a more exciting brand of football as offenses spread the field. Eight-man games are generally high-scoring affairs much like indoor Arena League Football. Rules vary greatly among leagues that play the eight-man game. Some reduce the field size to 80 yards long and 40 yards wide although Gudmundson said the NCL II might keep the standard 100-yard-long, 50-yard-wide field used in the 11-man game.
“The kids are excited,” Gudmundson said.
Upper Lake is also planning to play a night game Sept. 18 at home against Upper Lake, which would be the first Friday night home game in the school’s history. The team has played all of its home games on Saturday afternoons in past seasons.
“We’re going to bring in some portable lights,” Gudmundson said.
An ongoing fundraising effort — Lights of Love — is nearing its goal to install permanent lights at the high school field.
