8-player football an option for rural W.Va. schools

Some high-school football teams in rural West Virginia, where population is declining, are having trouble fielding full 11-man rosters. At Hannan High School in Mason County, 11 of the team's 14 members are on the field all the time, making the game even tougher on them, and they haven't won a game all year, Dave Benton of WSAZ-TV in Huntington reports. To address the problem, some are hoping for an eight-player league for smaller schools. Advocates say smaller teams would help schools like Hannan, which are forced to play teams with dozens of reserves waiting on the bench.

But for schools like Hannan to play in an eight-team conference, the Secondary Schools Activities Commission would have to amend its current regulations. Not everyone in Mason County thinks that's a possibility, though eight-player leagues have caught on in other states. (Read more) Here's the video from WSAZ.