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Northern 8 Football Conference
High school 8-man football conference From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Northern 8 Football Conference is an 8-man football conference that began competition in the fall of 2020 and is made up of 8-man teams from high schools located in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Members
Chalker
Danbury
Holgate
SJCC
SMCC
Sebring McKinley
Stryker
Cardinal Stritch
Kennedy Catholic
Map of members beginning with the 2025 season.
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Former Members
History
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The Northern 8 was created in October 2019 when Stryker and Toledo Christian agreed at a meeting to form the league for OHSAA schools that are committing to play 8-man football for the future.[1] The OHSAA does not currently sponsor the 8-man game,[2] but several member schools resorted to that option recently instead of playing the traditional 11-man game or choosing not to play out the season.[3] Stryker and Toledo Christian forfeited their football membership in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference, but remained members of the Buckeye Border Conference and the TAAC respectively, for all other sports.
Two other schools that attended the initial meeting would later get board approval to join the league: Holgate agreed to join later on in October 2019[4] and Danbury joined in November 2019.[5] Holgate was ultimately kicked out of the Green Meadows Conference for this decision, but joined Stryker in the BBC for all other sports beginning in 2021.[6] Danbury also remained in the Sandusky Bay Conference's River Division for other sports.
In July 2021, St. Mary Central Catholic was invited to play in the league for two years. The Panthers began play with the 2021 season but intended to get back to 11-man football eventually.[7]
In October 2022, the league announced that Sebring McKinley of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference was invited to join for the 2023 season.[8] The Trojans had similar issues with 11-man football and had only won 37 games between 1993-2022 after posting their last winning record at 6-4 in 1992.[9]
On October 20, 2023, St. Joseph Central Catholic announced their intention to play 8-man football in the N8FC beginning in 2024. They believe this will offer safer competition against schools closer to their size.[10] On November 7, 2023, the conference announced they had admitted SJCC and Southington Chalker into the league, beginning in 2024. Chalker will field a varsity football team for the first time since 2020, as they were not able to field a team in 2021 and played a hybrid JV/8-man schedule in 2022 and 2023.[11]
In December 2024, Toledo Christian announced it would return to 11-man football as an independent in 2025, and will return to the Toledo Area Athletic Conference in 2026.[12]
In January 2025, Kennedy Catholic in Hermitage, Pennsylvania announced they would not have enough players to field a full team and would join the Northern 8 League.[13]
In April 2025, Cardinal Stritch in Oregon, Ohio announced it's football program would return as a member of the Northern 8 after having cancelled two of its previous three seasons due to low participation. [14]
The league is actively looking for more schools to commit to a two-year membership. They also have not set a definite number of schools to be members, but it seems likely that they would not have more than 10 in the league.[15]
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8-Man State Championship History
2020 - Danbury Lakers (Conference Champions)
2021 - Toledo Christian Eagles (Conference Champions)
2022 - Holgate Tigers (Unofficial State Champions)[16]
2023 - Toledo Christian Eagles
2024 - Toledo Christian Eagles
References
External links
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