Florida School for the Deaf and Blind’s 8-man football team wins SSAA 3A championship
Alex: The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind’s 8-man football team won the Sunshine State Athletic Association 3A championship on Saturday by defeating Hernando Christian Academy 60-53.
Here are highlights and an interview with FSDB head coach Eric LeFors.
[Video clips of the FSDB football team competing and winning.]
Player #3: Teamwork makes the dream work. To win the championship, it feels so great.
Player #7: We won the championship! It feels so great. We played in a tough battle and we beat them! Yeah!
Player #19: Dragons!
Eric LeFors, Head Coach: We are the 3A champions! It is very good. I want to make it clear that we are not state 8-man champions. We are the 3A champions. Our conference has 29 teams in total. We are split up in five divisions of six teams each. Whoever wins the division championships gets to enter the “gold” 4A bracket. That’s the state championship bracket. We lost our division championship game. That was our only loss. That team advanced. There were three wild card team spots available but we didn’t get selected. Our strength of schedule was a bit weak. So we didn’t get to be in the top 8 and we ended up in the 3A category and was the #2 seed. We advanced to the championship. So we are the 3A champions.
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Alex: What does it mean to you, to the team, to the school for you to become champions?
Eric: The best thing about winning is that it makes everything feel better. I can see the community getting together. The championship game was in southwest Florida in the Tampa area. About 200 alumni, fans, and parents came to watch the game. It was packed. We outnumbered the hearing / home team! It was inspiring for the kids to see alumni and to cheer with them after the game. That community feeling is the best part of winning, for sure.
Alex: FSDB has played 8-man football since 2019. I noticed that other Deaf schools also use the 8-man football format. Do you see that becoming the norm for today and in the future?
Eric: 8-man football is the norm now. No Deaf schools today play a 11-man schedule. There are few that play just a handful of games but the majority is 8-man or 6-man. It is here to stay, I believe. I don’t know about other states but here in Florida, a 11-man team is tough because you need many players. Quality and depth. With our current enrollment and with today’s declining numbers of football players due to concerns with concussions, which are understandable, 8-man teams are good. It is competitive for us and we get to play against other Deaf schools. It works. Really, 8-man and 11-man teams are the same, it’s just 3 less people, that's it. You still have to block, tackle, run, throw, and catch. Coaches still yell and there is the same kind of tears and joy. Really, everything is the same. Injuries, blood. It’s the same, just less people. Some states keep the same 100-yard fields with a 53 yards width. That’s challenging for an 8-man program. Most reduce the width to 40 yards. The length is either 100 or 80 yards. But the 40 yards width makes it the same between 11-man and 8-man programs. In the nation, players still play hard and give their passion for football, it’s the same!
Alex: Thank you, Eric. I’m an alumni of FSDB so I’m especially proud of the Dragons! Congratulations.