The St. Stephen High School Spartans kickoff their season Saturday, September 6th when they visit the Harbour View Vikings at 3 pm. (Emera (Shamrock) Field). The Spartans will play in the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association (NBIAA) 9 man football league.
The Spartans will play a 6 game regular season schedule and lock horns with Harbourview High School, École Louis-J.-Robichaud Patriotes (Shediac), Rothesay High School, James M. Hill High School (Miramichi), Simonds High School and Hampton High School.
If you are interested in the bigger picture high school football scene in New Brunswick, we recommend the Gridiron New Brunswick site. gridironnewbrunswick.org
9 Man Football is a variation on the traditional 12 man Canadian football game. In New Brunswick, the schools with large students numbers play the 12 man game and the small and mid-sized schools tend to compete in the 9 man league. 9-man football plays on a field 15 yards narrower than the 12 man game. It tends to be a more wide-open, higher scoring game than 12 man football.
According to Wikipedia, 9 Man Football Features some of the following tatical nuances from the traditional Canadian 12 man football team.
The rules require that the offense align four players in the backfield and five on the line of scrimmage. A standard I formation has a quarterback, a fullback, a tailback, and five linemen. Usually, the outside linemen are a tight end and a wide receiver, but the alignment varies by formation. The fourth player in the offensive backfield often plays as an additional wide receiver or tight end.
A common defensive formation is the 3-3-3, with three defensive linemen, three linebackers, and two defensive backs with one safety. Other defensive schemes include 3-2-4, 4-2-3, and 4-4-1. These formations aim to balance run and pass defense with varying numbers of linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs.
Leave a Reply