Peoria has a new high school football team. Quest joins the growing 8-player game
PEORIA — Quest Charter Academy has decided to charter a journey into high school football.
The Peoria school will launch an 8-man team in the Illinois 8-Man Football Association this fall.
Former Peoria High School football player Mauriece Coates, who works in maintenance at Quest, will be head coach.
"Our athletic director (Elmer Dickerson), before I even knew about the job, had interviewed someone for it, and that candidate wanted to bring me on as a coach on the staff," Coates said. "During the process, Mr. Dickerson said he preferred a head coach who was in the building. The job shifted to me, and I already have my staff in place."
That staff includes some former teammates and opponents from Peoria's semipro football teams, the Midwest Hawks and Peoria Punishers, who operate in the Mid-American 8-man Football League.
"I've played for years now in a semipro adult 8-man football league," Coates said. "I know these guys, they know the 8-man game, we all have a lot of experience with it.
"It's a smaller field, a faster game, much more skill and adversity in play. We'll be ready for the job."
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How it happened
Football moved to the front burner in discussions at Quest some time ago. Support for it has continued to grow. And when the students spoke, the administrators listened.
"Football is a really big investment, it's expensive," Coates said. "We've looked at it for a while now, and this year, he (athletic director Dickerson) was able to do it. With the amount of kids we have in the school, 8-man football was the best choice for us, easier to build from and get this going."
Some of that building is physical in nature. Quest has a large, vacant field on its property. Coates says school officials are going through the process of marking off a football playing area, rolling and grading the ground and preparing it so it can be used safely for athletics.
"The kids have been asking for this for a long time," Coates said. "They want football, and we're going to do it."
What organization are they in?
The Illinois High School Association does not yet offer a state championship series for 8-player football. But it might soon be coming, as the number of member schools turning to the 8-player format is increasing.
Right now, there are 28 schools in Illinois with 8-player teams, all operating under the I8FA umbrella, divided in two six-team and two five-team divisions. The games are played on a smaller field, 80 yards long and 40 yards wide, and rosters generally are capped at 25 players. Games are live-streamed through the National Federation of State High School Associations.
"We just got accepted into I8FA," Coates said. "We won't have a home game this year, all nine of our games will be on the road."
Quest's first official practice is Aug. 3, when students start back to school. Coates says he already has 15 players, and could have as many as 25 by the time the season begins. There is an informative site on Facebook for Illinois 8-man football in general, including schedules and weekly scores.
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Quest season opens on Aug. 25
Peoria Heights is in the I8FA Central 2 Division, but is not in the same division with newcomer Quest and they are not scheduled to play this season.
Quest's inaugural 8-man game is Aug. 25 at Danville Schlarman. Quest is in the I8FA North 2 Division, which includes: Polo, in Ogle County (102 miles from Peoria); Amboy/LaMoille/Ohio in Amboy (80 miles); Hanover (River Ridge) (146 miles); Milledgeville (99 miles); and Orangeville (134 miles).
Quest will play their five division-mates, plus St. Anne (125 miles), South Beloit (150 miles), Rockford Christian Life (135 miles) and Danville Schlarman (125 miles). The schedules and division alignments are carried on the IHSA website.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Illinois 8-Man Football Association: Peoria Quest adds program for 2023
