Six-Man Central by Don Hardin

Never Too Early..................

2009-10-02T17:38:23Z

to start thinking about next season.

Saint Jo HS is looking to put together a group of games during ZERO week next year. We hope to play a game on Thursday night, Friday night, and 2-3 games on Saturday. We are currently putting a very nice incentive package together which will include meals and lodging. We want to minimize the costs for all the teams involved. We have excellent facilities and are looking forward to putting on a good show. We feel that this will allow the sixman game to grow more in the northeastern part of the state.

Saint Jo is located north of DFW, just off of I-35.

Please consider us when you are making your schedule for next season. We will try to match teams to make for the most interesting games. UIL or Private. Thanks.

If anyone is interested please contact:

Chad Tallon
Head Football
chad.tallon@esc9.net
(940) 995-2532

Chuck Hall
Athletic Director
chuck.hall@esc9.net

Saturday September 5th at 6:30 PM......................

2009-08-31T21:00:23Z

if you care about Six-Man football you are going to want to be in Trent, Texas to see what may well be the game of the year between Division 1 Richland Springs and Division 2 Borden County. Folks, I just don't think it can get much better than this match up.

Borden County is ranked the # 1 team in Division 2 of Six-Man no matter what Poll you might be looking at. They are the defending State Champion from Division 2 and many people believe that this team may be better than last year's group. They were the only undefeated team in either Division last season.

Richland Springs is ranked # 1 in at least 1 Poll In Division 1 and no worse than # 3 in other Polls. They have been State Champions themselves in 2004, 2006, and 2007. They had one loss last season and that was to Strawn in the playoffs. Strawn is your defending State Champion from 2008 for Division 1.

This should be an outstanding game. The line that I have seen on the game has Richland Springs as a 5 point favorite. It will be well worth your trip to come to this game no matter where you are coming from.

If you are interested in this game make plans to attend. The Abilene Reporter~News most likely will not cover the game because Richland Springs and Borden County are not in their circulation area. I am sure the 33 or so Six-Man schools with the ARN circulation area would love to see coverage but I was told that probably will not happen. That is too bad.

Note the game time is 6:30 PM. Trent officials have told me the gates will open at 5:00 PM. The seating capacity of Trent's stadium is about 1500. POTENTIALLY, the crowd could be and should be much larger than that. I am also told that Borden County will be the HOME team. Ticket prices will be $6.00 for adults and $4.00 for students. My suggestion is that you make plans to arrive early.

Melvin Clements will toss the coin before the opening kick off. He is a gentleman that lives near Rotan. He is 90 years old. He has been chosen to participate in the coin flip because he was a player in the first Six-Man game ever played in Texas. That game was played in Rotan between the teams of Sylvester Cardinals and the Dowell Bulldogs. The game was played September 29th, 1936.

There are only a few records of this game that have survived the test of time. Thanks to some fine "historical" work by Leman Saunders of Blackwell, we now know that Melvin Clements is a true pioneer of the sport so many of us love. Six-Man football. It is a great game. Make plans now to come out and watch a great game and help honor Mr. Melvin Clements.

See you at The Trent Tussle.

You can get your Six-Man fix at the following links:

2009-08-11T02:17:35Z

www.lonestarfootball.net
(The Most Comprehensive Coverage of H.S. Football in Texas.)

www.sixmanfootball.com
(The Bible of Six-Man in Texas)

www.huddleuptexas.com

www.pigskinprep.com (premium site)

And of course the Abilene Reporter~News and GoFridayNight.com.

Lots to Cover

2009-07-18T15:58:49Z

Abilene is very close to being located in the center of the Six-Man football world as far as public schools go. The Reporter~News covers as best they can close to 30 schools. There are around 125 schools give or take a couple of schools that might or might not field a team this season because of, well the lack of numbers. It is hard to play a season with only six boys suited up. It can be done but the odds of finishing the season are not in your favor.

The same is true for the local paper in Abilene trying to cover 30 or so Six-Man teams. You really need 30 "players" to cover 30 positions. The Reporter~News has to few "players" to cover the 30 positions that are open so to speak. They are willing to take a shot at it realisticly knowing the task is nigh on impossible.

As Six-Man fans, I suppose we should be grateful for any coverage we might receive.

Things Are Moving Right Along

2009-03-24T11:36:51Z

The word I hear from Leman Saunders about the Six-Man State Championship Game Film Project is encouraging. He, with the help of many of you out there, has made much progress in finding footage of Six-Man Championships dating back to 1972. That is the year O'Brine won the first ever Six-Man State Championship. He also states he is finding film of Regional Championships prior to 1972. Amazing! When completed, the film project will be house at McMurry University in Abilene.

Spring has sprung and the weather is warming up. Something else beginning to heat up is 6 0n 6. Tournaments are being held in May and June in several towns and will culminate with the 6 on 6 Championships held here in Abilene in mid June.

As is usual with this time of the year, coaches are beginning to move from one school to another. Stay tuned for those changes.

Leman Saunders

2009-03-11T04:00:26Z

That may not be a household name to you but if you care about Six-Man football it is a name you should know. I invite you to learn more about this fine gentleman by reading his blog at www.lonestarfootball.net.

Leman is working on two projects that are very important to the game of Six-Man. One has to do with game film and the other has to do with History itself. Amazing stuff. Check it out.

State Championship Video

2009-01-28T02:33:46Z

Do you have video of any Six-Man State Championship games? I have been made aware of a gentleman that heads a project of collecting ALL State Championship games. Sounds like a great project. Please contact me if you have any of these games on video.

Don Hardin
donhardin1@gmail.com
txsixii@yahoo.com

Thanks!

Question

2009-01-24T20:54:35Z

What is your overall satisfaction level with where we are today concerning Six-Man football? What kind of changes need to be made?

Reply to:
txsixii@yahoo.com

New Year

2009-01-17T17:10:53Z

January 17th

Good morning. I have my eyes glued to the television this day. Pretty incredible. I am watching the Obama Express as it makes its way to Washington D.C. and I saw for the first time this morning a video clip of the actual landing of the Miracle on the Hudson. Technology is a wonderful thing!

Finally, the Six-man All State teams have been released and there are some who didn't make it that thought they should have. That happens every year.

Plans are in place for another great 6 on 6 season. It appears at this time there will be a Finals in Abilene in mid June. The site of the games most likely will be at the Lee Complex because of construction on some of the fields at Abilene Christian University.
Stay tuend for additional details.

My email is txsixii@yahoo.com and donhardin1@gmail.com. Let me hear from you.

Don Hardin
Abilene

Thought Provoking

2008-12-30T02:14:21Z

Over at sixmanfootball.com, there is a thread asking you to name your Top Five Six-Man games of 2008. That is a difficult thing to do at least for me. I listed six games. Visit the site and respond with your Top Five games.

It is what it is

2008-12-18T17:47:54Z

Six-man football is a wonderful sport. It is an extremely wide open game. If you are reading this you are probably already a fan of the game.

If you are not a fan of Six-man, you probably don't understand that the six-man community is a huge family. That's right, a family and yes alot like mine and yours. We have our spats and disagreements from time to time but in the end we are still family.

Fans know these sites, Non fans or newbies might not so I list them from time to time and I highly encourage you to visit them. They are:

http://www.lonestarfootball.net/index.asp

http://sixmanfootball.com/

How About Those Mullin Bulldogs!!!!

2008-12-18T01:23:27Z

A year ago, Mullin went 0-10 I believe. Enter Coach Benny Weaver. This season his squad of Bulldogs won 6 and lost 4. They came close to beating a very good Star team in district. Had they won that game they would have most likely been a playoff team. Anyway you slice it, that was a huge turnaround from last season. Congratulations to Coach Weaver and the Mullin Bulldogs.

New Blood Next Season?

2008-12-17T03:43:56Z

What are the chances of seeing the same four teams that just played for the Division 1 and Division 2 Championships in the finals again next season? I would not say impossible. I suppose that whoever gets there is more than worthy. I have said it before and I will say it again, I like to see new blood.

Final TOP 15 Teams bt Division

2008-12-14T23:21:37Z

Sunday, December 14, 2008
2008 Final TOP 15 by Division
SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM TOP 15
2008 PUBLIC BY DIVISION WEEK FIFTEEN RANKINGS DIVISION I
Rank...............School.......................(W-L).........Rating
1......................Strawn......................(14-1).........266.42
2......................Gordon.....................(11-2)..........251.76
3......................Abbott......................(13-1)..........251.08
4......................Calvert.....................(9-1).............250.47
5......................Richland Springs,,,,,(10-1)...........247.71
6......................Follett......................(11-3).............231.64
7......................Fort Davis...............(13-1).............229.50
8......................Garden City............(10-3)............224.69
9......................Throckmorton........(8-3)..............224.04
10....................Northside................(8-3)...............222.48
11....................Paducah...................(8-2)...............218.79
12....................Ira............................(7-4)...............216.73
13....................May.........................(7-3)................216.06
14....................Meadow..................(10-3)..............215.63
15....................Valley......................(7-4).................213.77

SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM TOP 15
2008 PUBLIC BY DIVISION WEEK FIFTEEN RANKINGSDIVISION II

Rank..........................School......................(W-L).............Rating
1.................................Borden County.......(14-0).............229.37
2.................................Woodson.................(10-5).............208.56
3.................................Highland.................(12-1)..............208.16
4.................................Sierra Blanca..........(7-3)................184.09
5.................................Sanderson...............(7-4)................181.46
6.................................Star..........................(10-1)..............173.57
7.................................Walnut Springs........(9-4)...............173.29
8.................................Silverton...................(9-5)...............169.14
9.................................Zephyr......................(8-3)...............168.80
10...............................Sidney.......................(9-3)...............168.77
11...............................Lefors.........................(9-3)..............166.84
12...............................Panther Creek..........(7-4)...............166.68
13...............................Cherokee...................(6-4)...............165.54
14...............................Blackwell...................(9-2)...............161.36
15...............................Rule...........................(6-5)................156.74

Championship Weekend means Triumph and Tragedy

2008-12-14T08:38:58Z

It happens every season. Two teams started out their season with lofty expectations of winning a championship. They reap a reward of advancing to the state playoffs by virtue of winning their district or finishing second place. It is a well deserved privilege to advance into a tournament that will pit the best of the best against each other until there are only two teams left vying to be Champions. Modern day gladiators, they are put on stage for the entire world to watch. On that fate filled day, one team will realize great triumph with a victory while tragedy falls upon the team that falls in defeat.

Many will read this and say the description is too harsh. Perhaps it is but I tell you the members that do not win on that day feel like they have been shot in the gut at close range. Yes, they should realize that it is a wonderful thing to have played at that level for truly it is. With time, they will hopefully realize, it was a significant accomplishment to just be in that venue.

December 13th, 2008 such a thing happened. The Borden County Coyotes defeated the Woodson Cowboys 54 to 8 in the Division 2 State Championship and a couple of hours later Strawn defeated Follett in the Division 1 State Championship. For Woodson, the loss was the second year in a row that they advanced to the finals and left without what they had come for. There are many teams that envy the Cowboys two straight appearances in the Championship game. The hurt remains. Follett closed a wonderful season with their first appearance in a Six-Man Championship. They had lost to Strawn 46-0 earlier in the year and were beaten this game 58 to 29. A much better showing but the hurt remains.

Borden County and Strawn with their victories were able to claim the prize and joy of being crowned State Champions. It happens every year that there are victors and those who fall in defeat. Next season will be no different. Prepare now.