By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

While Mid-Continent League teams Stockton and Hill City drop down from 11-man football to eight-man ball for the first time this season, Quinter has been down the eight-man road before.

The Bulldogs, who moved up to 11-man full time in 1996, return to eight-man this season, starting with Friday night's home game against Rexford-Golden Plains.

"The sole reason we decided to go eight-man was our numbers dictated it," Quinter Athletic Director John Crist said Wednesday. "Two years from now, we project 15, 16 out for high school football."

Quinter first moved to eight-man in 1986, and as a member of the now-defunct Western Kansas Education Association played a split schedule of both eight-man and 11-man games. The Bulldogs enjoyed some success in eight-man, winning the Eight-Man, Division I state title in 1992. In 1996, Quinter returned to 11-man when it joined the Northwest Kansas League.

Crist said going back to eight-man was not an issue of trying to stay competitive in the sport; it was just a numbers issue.

"It was a no-brainer," Crist said. "(Dropping down to eight-man) wasn't our preference."

Quinter will remain a member of the NWKL in other sports.

"We're still in the league," Crist said. "We're very happy in the Northwest Kansas League.

"We're still going to compete in all the other league events," he added.

Crist said fans had an idea this day was coming.

"I think they saw it coming," Crist said. "I think being eight-man previously made it easier to accept."

While Quinter has moved back and forth in the past, Crist, in his 16th year as the athletic director, thinks eight-man is now here to stay for the school.

"Barring a lot of people moving into our district, or consolidation, we're eight-man for the foreseeable future," Crist said.