After one year in 8-man football, Meadowview Christian will play 6-man football this season as part of the Christian Football Association.

Head football coach Lebo Jones said the school decided to make the move earlier this week due to low participation in summer workouts.

“Ideally, we would like to get our program back to 11-man one day, but we are doing what we have to do to keep going right now,” Jones said.

Meadowview moved all of its sports, including football, from the Alabama Independent School Association to the Alabama Christian Athletic Association last season. The CFA is an organization that works in conjunction with the ACAA.

Meadowview Christian started playing football in 1970 and has a strong football tradition. The Trojans won five state championships as part of the AISA, but moved to the CFA’s 8-man league before the 2014 season due low numbers the last several years.

This year the depth problem has not improved.

Meadowview has only 12 players in the seventh to twelfth grades on its current roster, which would’ve made it hard for the team to play 8-man football.

“We barely had enough to play 8-man at the first part of the summer and after the first day of practice we had several guys that decided not to play,” Jones said.

“After that happened, we had to move in this direction.”

Jones said he approached the CFA last week about whether a move to 6-man would be possible this season and was told it would be. Jones then had the move approved by the Meadowview Christian School Board of Directors.

Jones said the school never considered not having a football program.

“We never talked about that,” Jones said. “It always crosses your mind but Meadowview has had football since 1970, and we are not going to stop playing football altogether just because we had to cut down on the size of the team.”

With the move to 6-man football comes a much different style of game for the Trojans.

Meadowview’s home football field will still play the same dimensions as last year — 40 yards wide and 100 yards long — but some opponents will use a field 80 yards in length.

“A lot of schools play 80 by 40 [yards] but our school is already set up with the goalposts there and all so we will keep it at 100 yards long and 40 yards wide,” Jones said.

Although the playing field won’t be different, there are many differences between 6-man football and 8-man football.

Instead of the normal 10 yards, a team must travel 15 yards to gain a first down in 6-man football.

Another major difference is that all six players on the field are eligible to catch passes, even if they line up as offensive lineman. However, the quarterback is not allowed to cross the line of scrimmage unless another player has touched the ball first. That rule eliminates many fundamental plays, like the quarterback draw or the basic option.

There are also scoring changes. An extra point is worth two points, while trying to cross the goal line after a touchdown — usually referred to as a two-point conversion — is worth only point.

Most 6-man football leagues also count a field goal as four points.

Meadowview will play its first game of the year at Cullman Christian on Aug. 21. The  league has a total of nine teams, meaning the Trojans will play eight games and will have two bye weeks during the season.

Meadowview will face Clay County, Victory, Faith and Conecuh Springs at home this year.

“The kids seem to be real responsive to it and I think they like the idea that can be able to score a touchdown — even the lineman, so they are kind of excited about that,” Jones said. “I think it’ll be a fun thing for them.”