Assumption considering move to 8-player football

Assumption High School in Wisconsin Rapids is petitioning the WIAA to move
to eight-player football in the fall of 2026.  The Royals have played
eleven-man football, but the WIAA is making a preliminary plan to place
Assumption into the North Central-East Conference, along with Athens, Owen-
Withee, Thorp, Alma Center-Lincoln, Gilman, Cornell and Newman.  Meanwhile,
it appears that McDonell High School in Chippewa Falls wants to go in the
opposite direction, and return to the 11-man game in 2026.  McDonell is
asking the WIAA to place it in an eleven-man league, and it appears the
Macks will be assigned to the Dunn-St. Croix Conference, to play with
Boyceville, Colfax, Elmwood/Plum City, Glenwood City, Osseo-Fairchild and
Spring Valley.  If approved, these changes would take effect in the fall of
2026.