Danbury makes move to 8-man football

LAKESIDE — Danbury Local Schools made official last week what has been expected for weeks: The Lakers will play 8-man varsity football next season.Danbury's school board voted 4-1 to join the new Northern 8 Football Conference, which currently includes four schools."I'm thrilled and a lot of people are there right with me," Danbury athletic director and football coach Keith Mora said. "It's great that we'll be on a level playing field. We'll be with schools of similar sizes and similar roster sizes."The Northern 8 currently is made up of Danbury, Toledo Christian, Holgate and Stryker."We don't have to question anymore if we're going to field a team or what will happen if a couple players got hurt," Mora said.Three key factors drove Mora to support the move to 8-man football: player safety, program longevity and the opportunity for success.Mora pointed out that this move is not a temporary thing; Danbury is going 8-man for good."Nobody wants this to become the league to you go in and out of as you see fit," he said. "It's not a league you can just join if you can't figure out something by July."The league could grow in size and would welcome other small schools. The Northern 8 has a March deadline for schools to join.Danbury, which no longer will play football in the Sandusky Bay Conference but will remain an SBC member in other sports, went 0-9 this season against 11-man competition before dropping down in its regular-season finale to defeat St. Mary Central Catholic in an 8-man game."Our kids are excited," Mora said. "That last game obviously got them excited for what could be."The Ohio High School Athletic Association does not sponsor 8-man football, but Mora thinks the state eventually will jump on board."There's a lot more conversation about it; you can't ignore it," Mora said. "I truly believe something will happen at some point." Danbury's Tommy Owens runs for yardage in the Lakers' 52-36 win over St. Mary Central Catholic on Nov. 2. The Lakers dropped down from 11-man football to play in the 8-man game.