Sebring High School appears to be headed to an 8-man football conference beginning in 2023. (Salem News/Gary Leininger)

SEBRING – It appears as if Sebring’s 11-man football days are numbered.

The commissioner of an 8-man football conference based in Northwest Ohio confirmed on Thursday that Sebring Local Schools submitted a petition to join the league for the start of the 2023 campaign.

The Sebring Board of Education held a special meeting at 7 a.m. Thursday to discuss a new league for the football program and on the agenda was the name of the conference — The Northern 8 Football Conference.

Sebring officials including superintendent Toni Viscounte and board president Melinda Vecchio were contacted for comment, but did not respond on Thursday.

Sebring currently competes in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Scarlet Division. MVAC commissioner John Mang said he did not want to comment on Sebring’s status until he received word from the superintendent. He said a clearer picture of the future of the league will be known by the end of the current football season.

Joel Miller, commissioner of the Northern 8 Football Conference, said the league currently consists of six teams — Danbury (Ottawa County), Holgate (Henry County), Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic, Stryker (Williams County), Toledo Christian and Fort Wayne (Indiana) King’s.

Sebring’s petition still needs approval from the league’s athletic directors and superintendents, but Miller said that process should only take about two weeks.

Miller said the five Ohio schools in the league all played 11-man at one time and the league was created in 2019 to give smaller schools a chance to compete on Friday nights.

“It gives the schools an opportunity to still keep the marching bands, cheerleading, the booster clubs and all of that stuff that makes Friday nights special,” Miller said.

Sebring’s football program has struggled for decades. The Trojans have totaled 38 wins since their last winning season in 1992.

The Trojans are 0-8 this season and have lost 16 straight. The last non-losing season came in 2014 (5-5) .

Miller said there are no plans to add other teams in Northeast Ohio right now, but he said he had a feeling Sebring’s interest in 8-man could be a tipping point for a lot of struggling programs in the area.

“We have all of these schools that went through the transition to 11-man football successfully and I believe we can offer guidance on how to make that happen for programs who are interested,” Miller said.

Miller said the league’s goal is ultimately 10 teams with possible East and West divisions.

This season the Northern 8 Football Conference played a regular season schedule of nine games. Following the season, there is a four-team playoff with the first-place team hosting the fourth-place team and the second-place team hosting the third-place team (the fifth- and sixth-place teams are also given the option to play again). The winners meet in a championship game in the 11th week.

Since the teams in the Northern 8 are close by Michigan’s robust 8-man football scene (64 teams), a lot of regular season games are filled out with programs from Michigan.

On this side of Ohio, neighboring Pennsylvania does have 21 8-man programs but most of those are located on the eastern side of the state. No schools in West Virginia play 8-man football.

Sebring’s football history goes as far back as at least the early 1900s. The Trojans were a founding member of the Tri-County League in 1932 and stayed for the league’s entire existence until 2005.

NOTES

• Sandusky St. Mary Central would be the closest school to Sebring at 117 miles or a two-hour drive.

• The league offers junior high football opportunities as well.

• The same officials qualified to officiate Ohio High School Athletic Association 11-man football are used to officiate 8-man football.

• Most of the league’s games are played on Friday nights.

• The width of the field is 40 yards in 8-man football as opposed to 53 1/3 yards for 11-man.

• The Ohio 8-man football season starts one week later than the 11-man football season to help align with Michigan’s schedule.

• Nebraska has the most 8-man football teams with 115. California is second with 108.