8-Player Football State Championship Preview
Tuesday, November 11th, 2025 -- 10:21 AM
The seventh annual WIAA 8-Player Football State Championship Game will be held this Saturday at South Wood County Stadium in Wisconsin Rapids at 1 p.m as Gilman takes on McDonell Catholic.
THE MATCH-UP: Both Gilman and McDonell Catholic will be making their first appearance in the 8-player championship game, and both are from the same conference. Gilman (12-0) has qualified for the 8-player football playoffs in four of the past five seasons of the tournament, which also accounts for the Pirates’ overall number of appearances in the playoffs. Prior to this year, their furthest advance in the bracket was to the third round in 2021. They have posted an 8-3 record in their appearances in the 8-player tournament field. Before transitioning to 8-player, Gilman qualified for the 11-player playoff field 15 times, including once in Division 5, four times in Division 6 and 10 times in Division 7. The Pirates compiled an 11-player playoff record of 32-12. Most notably, they won the Division 6 championship in 1986 and the Division 7 title in 2006. The Pirates also advanced to the championship game in 2005 and came away with a runner-up finish. Gilman was the champion in the East Division of the North Central Conference this fall. They earned the opportunity to play for the championship after beating Oakfield 30-12 in their State semifinal match-up played at Waupaca. McDonell Catholic (11-1) advances to the championship game with a 64-29 victory over Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas, last season’s runner-up, in the sectional final played at D.C. Everest. The Macks have qualified for the playoffs six times and have now compiled a playoff record of 7-5. Their furthest advance in the playoffs prior to this year was to the third round in 2023. Prior to the transition to 8-player, they made 10 appearances in the 11-player playoffs, compiling a 9-10 record. The Macks advanced to the championship final in Division 7 and finished runner-up in 2009. They finished runner-up behind Gilman in the East Division of the North Central Conference this season. Gilman defeated McDonell Catholic in Week 5 of the regular season by a score of 38-12.
LIVE STREAMED ON WIAA.TV: The 8-player football championship game will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a consumer subscription basis. To purchase a $13.99 subscription to the live programming, log-on to wiaa.tv and click on the “Subscribe” link at the top of the page. Archived streams of the game will be available on demand 72 hours after the championship game with a subscription to the NFHS Network .
FACTS & FIGURES: There are 67 programs sponsoring 8-player football in 2025 and 51 are tournament eligible. There are several schools participating in the 8-player program that are ineligible for the post-season tournament because their three-year average enrollment exceeds 200, which is the threshold to be eligible for the 8-player tournament.
KEY DIFFERENCES IN THE GAME: In addition to only eight players on the field for each side, the game differs slightly from the 11-player format both in the field configurations and playing rules. The 8-player field is 40 yards wide and the distance between the hash marks are narrower than the 11-player field. The playing rules differ from 11-player in that there must be at least three players on the offensive line of scrimmage at the snap. Each player that is at the end of the line of scrimmage and each of the three players behind the line of scrimmage are eligible and may have any jersey number.
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