Schools Find the Move to 11-Man Football Pays Off

Tom Caffrey’s mission was clear when he arrived at tiny Heritage Christian High School three seasons ago.

The Patriots had a money-losing, eight-man football program in which winning was almost nonexistent. It was tough to convince boys to come out for the team.

On the other hand, school administrators sought to quadruple school enrollment and viewed a strong sports program as an important way to attract more students and justify the school’s $4,100 annual tuition.

So, Caffrey had Heritage Christian, which played six-man or eight-man football for 37 years, experiment with two 11-man games last season, and the Patriots switched permanently this fall. The benefits have gone far beyond their 1-2 record.

Enrollment has nearly doubled to about 145 students in less than two years with a goal of 200 next year. School spirit is way up, according to Principal Nancy Wilson. Games are played in a stadium on Friday nights instead of smaller fields in city parks on Saturday mornings. Crowds have been so good that Wilson expects football to break even financially for the first time in school history.

The situation at Heritage Christian mirrors other county private schools that in recent years have abandoned eight-man football. Administrators cite increased school spirit, better media attention, enrollment growth, playing in better facilities and down to earth economics as main reasons it makes sense to play the 11-man game.

“What it comes down to is a lack of respect,” said Brady Lock, St. Margaret’s football coach. “Our stats never got in the newspapers with all the other schools because eight-man football wasn’t considered the same. We still trained during the summer like everyone else, but the kids never got the respect they needed and I didn’t think that was fair.”

The issue of 11-man football at St. Margaret’s, located in San Juan Capistrano, first came about in the late ‘80s, because, Lock said, the school feared competition to attract students from the other side of the Saddleback Valley.

“The idea sort of culminated when Santa Margarita opened,” said Lock, adding that the move was made in 1995. “We saw a lot of our good athletes going to Santa Margarita because they played ‘real football.’ That was discouraging.”

Capistrano Valley Christian switched to 11-man football in the mid-1980s, then went back to eight-man at the end of that decade when interest in football waned. But in 1995, citing many of the same concerns as St. Margaret’s, the Eagles began playing 11-man again. Even then, standout running back Bryant Wolfsberger, who rushed for 1,579 last year, transferred to Santa Margarita this year.

Former Athletic Director Terry Gaunt, who stepped down last spring at Capistrano Valley Christian, said playing 11-man reduced transportation costs and increased revenue. The school leases the stadium at Saddleback College for its games at night, when it can charge admission and the crowds are better. Playing in a community college stadium has made scheduling easier.

“Opponents love playing at Saddleback,” Gaunt said. “They call us all the time and say they don’t mind coming to play down here because Saddleback is so nice and better than anything they have.”

At Heritage Christian, students didn’t socialize during football games or rally around their team because most didn’t want to spend Saturday mornings in a city park watching the team lose over and over. And school enrollment had become stagnant, which frustrated the school’s board of directors.

“Football teaches self discipline, self-worth and all kinds of important qualities to kids,” Wilson said. “We struggled very much before Caffrey came here, but the program has improved so much we believe other school kids are now hearing about us and will therefore want to come here and participate in the football program.”

Saddleback College aside, finding field space for practice and games is difficult for most small 11-man programs, which often are located on church-owned properties.

Orange Lutheran, for example, which made the switch to 11-man from eight-man about three decades ago along with most of its Olympic League rivals, has a lighted campus football practice facility but rents Brea Olinda’s stadium for games.

Heritage Christian has to stand in line behind half a dozen Anaheim Union School District schools to get a shot at using Glover Stadium, so the Patriots leased spacious Crusader Field at Cerritos Valley Christian for its home games. However, Saturday night’s s homecoming game against Fontana Ambassador Christian will be at 7:30 at Glover. But Patriot practices take place on a softball field at Boisseranc Park in Buena Park.

At practice the other day, Caffrey, who has spent all of his 30-year coaching career at private schools, including stints at the helm of six- and eight-man teams, chuckled when he named the roadblocks faced by small schools when it comes to playing 11-man football. But he said he wouldn’t change the way things have gone so far, despite this season’s losing record.

He predicted the school’s enrollment will continue to climb, perhaps to as high as 600 students. He also envisions a larger school site someday, one which he hopes will have practice and playing fields.

“I love 11-man and the kids are really excited about it,” he said.