Whenever Abbott coach Terry Crawford sends one of his players to participate in the Super Centex Victory Bowl, he doesn’t really worry about them making the transition to 11-man football.

“Our kids are always like, ‘Wait a minute, this is my gap, from here to here?’ ” Crawford said, holding his arms about four feet apart. “It’s a little different. In six-man, your gap is from this sideline to the other sideline.”

For better or worse, the six-man game carries a reputation as a wide-open, score-on-every-play, last-one-to-touch-the-ball-wins brand of football. And in some cases, that reputation holds true.

But that’s not all the game is. That would be like saying “The Blind Side” was just a movie about the intricacies of playing left tackle.

Believe it or not, they do tackle in six-man football. In fact, it’s absolutely paramount to success.

‘Tackling is so critical’

“A lot of people do think it’s just a bunch of guys running around, and every time they get the ball they score a touchdown,” Abbott linebacker Casey Morgan said. “But, really, it’s a missed (assignment) when people score.”

If open-field tackling is an art, then every football team needs as many artists as it can find. But it may be even more critical on the six-man level, where plays unfold in space and backup help can be limited.

“Man, tackling is so critical,” Bynum coach Andy Ball said. “On this level, those teams with speed will try to spread you out and put you in one-on-one situations, and if you can’t tackle they’ll score every time. Our kids have got to be able to do it.”

In 11-man football, when a cornerback is pitted one-on-one against a receiver, he’s often said to be “on an island.” But that’s where six-man defenders live every day. They’re like Tom Hanks in Cast Away.

“Teams are constantly looking to exploit one-on-one situations,” Milford coach Ronny Crumpton said. “We stress that all the time. If we get this one block, that’ll leave our back one-on-one with their cornerback, and we’ll take that matchup every time. That’s why open-field tackling is so important.”

Special teams-like feel

Just as one shifty juke can lead to a touchdown in six-man ball, one failed dodge can leave the ball carrier a sitting duck. The six-man game is rife with pad-smacking, bone-crunching, full-speed collisions.

“Over the last six or seven years, I’ve seen some of the hardest hits you’ll ever see, even more than 11-man,” Bynum’s Ball said. “The game is so wide open and so fast that it leads to some big hits.”

“Let’s face it, in six-man every down is almost like a kickoff,” Oglesby coach Wayne Stigler said. “Guys get laid out all the time, just like on a kickoff play. It makes it exciting.”

It’s not just exciting, it’s addictive. Abbott’s Crawford called a big hit “a game changer.”

One wicked lick can spread through the hit-delivering team like wildfire, causing an inferno of Troy Polamalu-like headhunting.

“One big hit can fire up the whole team,” Penelope defensive end Quinton Griffens said.

“We love doing that, because you come off the field and everybody talks about it,” Abbott’s Morgan said. “It gets everybody jacked up. They want to go out there and get one. The coaches get jacked up. It gets the crowd and everybody into it when you get a big hit like that.”

Ultimately, though, those basic wrap-em-up-and-yank-em-down tackles are just as important as their more emphatic cousins.

That’s why nearly every six-man team utilizes a portion of its daily practice time on basic tackling drills, stressing and restressing the most fundamental element of defensive football.

“We work on it almost every day,” Ball said. “When you have a lot of kids, you can do stuff like that. The schools that have seven or eight out, they’re always afraid of getting somebody hurt, so they’re at a definite disadvantage.”

Practice, but don’t get hurt

Indeed, coaches at the smallest six-man schools occasionally limit tackling drills as a self-preservation move. No coach wants to see one of his kids get hurt.

But it’s a delicate balancing act, because what sometimes hurts even more is failing to wrap up on Friday nights.

“It’s the most important element of the game,” Crawford said. “When we’re watching film, we always have a theme for the week and the theme after our first scrimmage was, ‘Make the tackle.’ ... If you don’t make that tackle in open space, you’re in trouble.”

bcherry@wacotrib.com

757-5714

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