Members of the Redhawks football coaching staff including defensive coordinator Tom McDermott, left, and head coach Andrew Knaack, right, attend the Monday, Nov. 18 school board meeting. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TRAER – In the end the decision was quick and without much fanfare.

During the Monday, Nov. 18 regular monthly meeting of the North Tama school board, a majority of members decided the time had finally come to drop from Class A varsity football to 8-Player.

Following a very brief discussion and in a vote of 5-1, the board approved a motion to move the district to 8-man (8-Player) football beginning with the 2025-26 season.

Those in favor of the motion included board president Rod Zobel, vice president Doug Dvorak, David Calderwood, Marty Dostal, and Jenny Sniffin; David ‘Spanky’ Boldt was the lone no vote while Cheryl Popelka was absent.

As part of the meeting’s public forum, Redhawk football defensive coordinator Tom McDermott provided his opinion on the possible move to 8-Player one last time, telling board members, “It’s what’s best for our school district and for our students. We’re to the point where it’s very difficult to compete 11-player [Class A] and it’s nothing against our players – they gave everything they had all year – we’re just outnumbered and outmatched.”

North Tama school board president Rod Zobel, right, speaks ahead of the board’s vote this past Monday to move the district’s varsity football program from Class A to 8-Player. The board ultimately approved the move, 5-1. Also pictured, superintendent John Cain, left, and board secretary/treasurer Sara Forrester (back to camera). PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Coach McDermott also said the district’s present enrollment – which is up by one student this year, according to Superintendent John Cain – “wouldn’t make much of a difference” but would place the Redhawks in the middle of the pack for 8-Player.

“We’re still the smallest 11-Player.”

Two years ago the possibility of moving Redhawk football to 8-Player was first addressed during a community meeting organized by then-head coach Taylor Wurth at the urging of (then) retired head coach McDermott who helped lead North Tama to their 2010 state title. In December of 2022 following the community meeting, the board voted 5-2 to keep Redhawk varsity football in Class A.

After Coach Wurth resigned from North Tama at the end of the 2022-23 school year, Andrew Knaack took over the program. Last month both Knaack and McDermott asked the board to rethink that 2022 decision and make the move to 8-Player, citing extremely low roster numbers and a team plagued with so many injuries, not only were freshman having to start but most of the seven senior players including quarterback Kolt Knaack were never given a single break during any of the games.

During this past Monday’s meeting prior to the vote, Sniffin said over the last month she had engaged in many conversations with community members about the possible change in football classification and not one person indicated they did not want to make the move to 8-Player.

Coach Knaack also spoke ahead of Monday’s vote, telling the board that while the upcoming seventh grade class is one of the bigger classes, “at the end of the day, I’d prefer not to play freshman.”

“The coaches have made it pretty clear to us we need to [move to 8-Player],” Dvorak said – he along with former director Haley Blaine made up the small contingent who voted in 2022 to move to 8-Player.

Zobel indicated his reluctance in 2022 to approve the move to 8-Player boiled down to the loss of three starting slots on the gridiron.

“Three more kids won’t get playing time,” he said on Monday night.

Despite some reservations, the board agreed with McDermott’s and Knaack’s assessment – the time for nostalgia has passed.

And it’s still Redhawk football.

Eight-player district assignments for the 2025 and 2026 football seasons could be released as early as January 2025 by the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA). During the 2023 and 2024 seasons, 8-Player District 4 included several nearby teams including Gladbrook-Reinbeck (G-R), GMG, and Meskwaki Settlement.

This past Thursday, the G-R Rebels played for the first time at the UNI-Dome as an 8-Player team for the state championship after previously winning back-to-back Class A state titles in 2015 and 2016.