The North Fulton Wildcats co-op football program made the switch to the 8-man game in the fall of 2019. The Wildcats posted a record of (2-7) in their first year and (1-2) in a shortened season this past fall. This fall, North Fulton had only a total of twelve players, including seven underclassmen, in attendance at the first week of practice. That shortage has prompted the co-op to abandon playing varsity contests this coming season. They will play a shortened JV season, in hopes of being able to spark interest in the program to continue playing a varsity schedule in 2022.
Other 8-man football programs around the state that are short on players that were on this year’s local school’s schedules include Lowpoint-Washburn Christian Life and Danville Schlarman. Local schools that play 8-man football, such as West Central, Peoria Heights, and new 8-man programs such as BPC, West Prairie and Galva, were able to find replacements for those three schools and North Fulton. North Fulton has explored the possibility of co-oping with Lewistown in the future. The two schools already co-op in a few high school and junior high sports.
