Eva: Hi, I’m Eva.

Tiffany: And I’m Tiffany.

Eva: And we’re sports editors for Harker Aquila. Today we’re going to be explaining the basics of 8v8 football. To set the stage, how is it different from normal football? As you can probably guess by the name, there are eight people on the field from each team at a time, while in regular football, there are 11. When a team is on offense, it will field a group of eight offensive players, and when they are on defense, they switch off these players for eight different defensive players. Additionally, the field is reduced to 80 yards by 40 yards, and penalties are only 10 yards. In 8v8 football, there are four 12-minute quarters, with a halftime lasting 15 min. 

Tiffany: The game begins with a coin toss, and the defending team’s kicker will start with a kickoff. The receiving team is the offensive team. The receiving team can choose to catch the ball off the kickoff and run it down the field as far as they can before being stopped, and their plays begin at that point. When they catch the ball in the end zone and take a knee or the ball is kicked beyond the end zone, the offense automatically starts at the 20-yard line. 

Eva: At the time of the snap, there must be at least five players on the line of scrimmage. After the play begins when the center snaps the ball to the quarterback, the quarterback can choose to hand off the ball for a running play, throw it to a teammate, or run the ball themselves. The offensive team’s goal is to score a touchdown by carrying or catching their ball in the end zone, which is worth 6 points. After scoring a touchdown, the team has the option to score more points, either one point from a kick through the fork or a 2-point conversion, where they essentially recreate their play to bring their ball into the end zone again. 

Tiffany: Like the offensive team, the defense is also made up of eight players. The goal of the defensive team at this point is to stop the offense from scoring a touchdown. The offensive team has four tries, or in football terms, downs, to move the ball ten yards forward, while the defense is blocking them. The most common fouls on defense players are holding, as only pushing is allowed, not pulling, and grabbing another player’s face mask. 

Eva: Now, for time outs, overtime and other rules! Each team is given three timeouts in each half. The mercy rule in high school football occurs when one team is ahead by over 35 points in the second quarter. At this point, the losing team can request a running clock. For overtime, a coin toss decides who has possession of the ball. The teams then try to score a field goal or touchdown before the possession is turned to the opposing team. 

Tiffany: And that’s the basics of 8v8 football! We’re excited for this football season, and we hope to see you at some of the games! Remember to visit harkeraquila.com for all sports coverage.