North Tama defensive coordinator Tom McDermott, center, walks across Dennis Field in Traer on Wednesday, Oct. 23, during football practice; head coach Andrew Knaack, far right, along with assistant coaches Dalton Hulme and Brice Girkin are also pictured. If the North Tama school board votes next month to move football from Class A (11-Player) to 8-Player beginning next season, the Oct. 23 practice may well have been the final one on Dennis Field for the Redhawks as a Class A team. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TRAER – These may be the waning days of Class A football at North Tama.

Two years ago this December, the North Tama school board voted 5-2 to keep Redhawk varsity football in Class A (11-player) rather than drop to 8-Player despite the district sitting squarely at the bottom of the enrollment ladder among fellow Class A schools.

During the Monday, Oct. 21 school board meeting, A.D. and head football coach Andrew Knaack along with defensive coordinator Tom McDermott all but pleaded with the board to rethink that 2022 decision and finally make the move to 8-Player.

“We have 25 kids on the roster this year. Currently I have 20 kids. Kayler Morris and Paul Dvorak are playing on Friday nights with a [brace] on. I have two kids that are on crutches and another kid that has a concussion. So right now I have 20 kids trying to run practice,” Knaack told the board as part of the evening’s discussion. He said he was speaking not only as a coach and A.D., but also as the father of an outgoing senior – starting quarterback Kolt Knaack – and an upcoming eighth grade player.

“Last two weeks, we’ve been scrimmaging against eight guys on defense because that’s all we got healthy,” he continued. “And if one or two kids are sick at practice – we’re just shorthanded. So it’s hard to get a good look for the varsity and hard for those guys to get the necessities they need to be able to compete on Friday night.”

Redhawk football defensive coordinator Tom McDermott, standing back left, addresses members of the North Tama school board and Superintendent John Cain (back right) regarding a possible move from Class A to 8-Player next season during the board’s Monday, Oct. 21 regular meeting. Head football coach and A.D. Andrew Knaack, standing back right, is also pictured. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

The Redhawks ended the 2024-25 season last Friday in Madrid where they lost the Class A state playoff opener to the Tigers, 41-6. It was a brutal game in which several seniors never once got off the field due to a lack of substitutes. And while Knaack acknowledged his team has had “some success this year” – they finished the season 4-5 – much of that success was due to those seniors’ practically non-stop participation.

“Those seven seniors carried us a lot of the way. We are only going to have five seniors next year if everybody stays healthy and everybody is back.”

Knaack added, at best, he will welcome just four freshmen to the team next year if he manages to garner 100% retention from the eighth grade class.

“Our enrollments are not what they used to be. There are 57 bigger teams than us. We are the smallest team in Class A football.”

If North Tama had made the move to 8-Player two years ago, the team would be “right in the middle of the pack.”

Head football coach Andrew Knaack watches as his son Kolt Knaack throws from the pocket on Wednesday, Oct. 23 during practice on Dennis Field in Traer. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“The numbers kind of speak for themselves,” Knaack continued. “Yes, we had a good year. We had district MVP. We had four other first teamers – all seniors [and] all are going to be gone [next season]. We’re replacing them with four eighth graders … I mean, I shouldn’t have to play freshmen. I have two freshmen playing varsity. One of them is an offensive lineman and he’s never played offensive line but he’s our biggest kid, so we had to play him on our offensive line.”

This season the Redhawks had just two players in the 200-pound range and one of them, senior Chaz Hall, was injured in the final regular season game and could not play against Madrid.

North Tama’s depth was in such dire straits this year, Knaack said, three seniors – Kolt Knaack, Josh Dostal, and Gavin Rausch – never had a sub, not even for kickoff.

Coach McDermott speaks

Two years ago the possibility of moving Redhawk football to 8-Player was broached during a community meeting organized by then-head coach Taylor Wurth at the urging of (then) retired head coach Tom McDermott who helped coach North Tama to their 2010 state title – a title they won by beating Madrid in a stunning upset.

Redhawk football defensive coordinator Tom McDermott – who helped coach the team to their first and still only state championship back in 2010 – monitors practice on Dennis Field in Traer on Oct. 23 in preparation for last Friday’s Class A state playoff in Madrid. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

During that Nov. 2022 community meeting, Coach McDermott gave a presentation illustrating how the high school football landscape in Iowa had changed significantly in the last 10-20 years. At the time, 54 teams in Class A had larger BEDS enrollment (Basic Educational Data Survey enrollment from grades 9-11) than North Tama, he said, and only one – Belle Plaine – had a smaller enrollment. Belle Plaine ultimately made the decision later that fall to move to 8-Player.

Last Monday evening, McDermott said not much has changed in the ensuing two years.

When it comes to the game of football, he explained, “one athlete cannot carry the team … that’s very difficult to do. That’s why numbers, in my opinion, are extremely important.”

While referring to a handout he had distributed to board members, he said, “You look at [squad size] … basically two-thirds of the 8-Player teams have bigger enrollments than we do, that kind of shows you something.”

Not only that, he said in an echo of Knaack’s earlier comments, every school this season in Class A is bigger than North Tama.

Defensive coordinator Tom McDermott, left, and head coach Andrew Knaack speak to one another during practice on Dennis Field on Oct. 23. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“The next one up is 30 students bigger than us. … We’re competing against [schools] that we shouldn’t be competing against.”

McDermott told the board that from 2006 to 2012, the Redhawks faced 63 different regular season opponents.

“Only 13 of those are still playing 11-man football. They’ve either consolidated or gone to 8-man. … It’s a different ball game [today]. It’s not the same people that we used to play [against] years ago.”

8-Player Vote 2.0

Following McDermott’s brief, but impactful comments, Knaack told the board that in the next 10 days the Iowa High School Athletic Association would be sending out a document regarding classification – districts must declare their intentions for the next two-year cycle by the end of December.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“So we need to have [Class A v. 8-Player] on the next meeting’s agenda.”

“We need to listen to our coach here,” board member Doug Dvorak said quietly at one point.

In 2022, Dvorak along with former board member Haley Blaine were the only two votes in favor of moving to 8-Player, while David Boldt, David Calderwood, Cheryl Popelka, Rod Zobel, and former member Val Bradley all voted against the motion.

After voting down the move in 2022, the board agreed in 2023 to transition the junior varsity to 8-player during the 2024-25 season. As a result, JV played all but one of its games this year as an 8-Player team – and still struggled with depth at times, Knaack said.

“At least five to six varsity kids had to play Friday night and then play [the following] Monday – [just] to be able to play 8-man JV games. Not 11-man JV games.”

During Monday’s discussion, board member Jenny Sniffin – who was not on the board in 2022 – asked why the decision was voted down.

“Tradition, part of it,” Dvorak replied.

“We didn’t have a coach [at the time] that wanted to [move to 8-Player],” Calderwood said in response.

“This isn’t right, these kids are wearing themselves out,” Dvorak later said. “You’re putting pressure on seniors [and] that isn’t smart anymore … It’s not a good idea. … It’s time. It’s not going to be the end of the world. And in two years we reevaluate. But we need to listen to our coaches.”

As part of his formal comments to the board Monday evening, Coach McDermott drew from his long history as a high school football coach – a career so storied the practice field on the outskirts of Traer is named after him – juxtaposing this season’s practices with those from years past.

“I’ve been a football coach since 1971. That’s a long time. And this is the most difficult year I’ve ever experienced as far as being able to operate practices and facilitate games because of our numbers. … We get into games. We get an injury. We shuffle three or four guys into different positions – guys that have not played that position maybe all year and end up having to play.” He then paused before continuing.

“That’s not the way to operate football.”

The school board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 18, beginning at 7 p.m. in the junior high commons.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER