Tigers Looking At Move To 8-Man Football
Princeton projected football roster size graphic courtesy of Nathan Powell
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here –
Email us! [email protected]
The information presented to the board showed a downward trend in enrollment over the past four years at the school. Princeton’s MSHSAA enrollment total, which takes into account grades 9-11, is currently 84, which ranks the Tigers not only last in the Grand River Conference East Division, but 41 students behind Polo, which is in seventh-place with a MSHSAA enrollment number of 125. Princeton’s MSHSAA enrollment number in the 2018-2019 school year was still ranked last in the GRC East, but sat at 103 — only 20 students behind Maysville, which was the next smallest school in the division at the time. The Princeton enrollment number has decreased every year since to its current position.
Powell and Ussery discussed the possibility of applying to switch from the GRC East to the GRC West division. The desire is to play with similar-sized schools for a conference schedule. Princeton’s enrollment number would make it the fourth-largest school in what would be a nine-team division in the West. Albany (106), North Andrew (100) and King City (89) represent schools that have larger enrollment totals than Princeton in the West.
Of course, a move to the West would potentially require the Tigers to switch from playing 11-man football to 8-man football.
“This move isn’t based solely on football,” Powell said. “The 8-man part of the equation is obviously the one that jumps out at people but our recommendation to the school board was based entirely on our declining enrollment and our ability to consistently compete with schools with much larger enrollments. Competing with schools we believe to be our true enrollment peer group is what’s best for all our kids and programs moving forward.”
Currently, the GRC West has eight schools, but only fields seven teams in 8-man football as North Harrison and Pattonsburg are part of a co-op along with HDC school Gilman City, competing as one team under the Pattonsburg Panther banner. Adding Princeton to the West would give the 8-man division an even eight football teams.
Softball would also go to eight teams as St. Joseph Christian currently does not field a softball team, leaving the West with seven softball teams currently.
Basketball would be the sport where a wrinkle could possibly arise as the GRC West would field nine teams on both the girls and boys sides.
Princeton’s football team has had significant success in the 11-man football ranks since the Grand River Conference expanded. The Tigers won the league title outright in 2017, capturing a district championship that same year. Princeton shared the league title twice since, finishing as tri-champions in 2019 and 2020. Princeton played for a district championship as recently as 2020, losing that game to Hamilton by just four points, 10-6.
But the 2021 season brought a winless campaign for the Tigers, who finished 0-10. The Tigers were outsized on the field in addition to enrollment-wise in every game.
Looking down the road there is also concern. Numbers reported by Powell show declining football roster sizes to the point where he projects a junior high roster of just nine as soon as 2024 and 11 or fewer every year going forward from 2023.
“Our 8-man recommendation comes from our projected rosters based on the current number of boys in PK through 11,” Powell said. “We currently have 41 percent of our boys participating in football and being optimistic we projected at least a 50 percent participation rate. Beginning in 2023 and looking ahead at the next decade, those projections have us either narrowly fielding a junior high team or not being able to at all. The junior high programs are the lifeblood of your high school programs and if we can’t consistently field a team, not just a competitive one, but field one at all, that’s the end of days for your high school program in my opinion.”
A move to the 8-man ranks would pit Princeton against more favorable enrollment totals, but would also present its own challenges on the gridiron. The GRC West has placed teams in the 8-man state championship game in each of the last two seasons and five of the six seasons since the league moved to its current format to create a conference on the 8-man side.
On the other side, a potential move would leave the GRC East in limbo, sitting at seven teams across all sports. That would create some schedule difficulties, particularly in football. It’s likely, the league would seek to find another 11-man football playing school to fill the void that would be created.
Princeton is planning a presentation for Monday at 6 p.m. in the high school activities room which will be open to the public. The event will consist of discussion and explanation of enrollment numbers, talk of potential conference divisional change and the possible transition to 8-man football. Community members are encouraged to attend to listen and ask questions.