ADAMS — With declining enrollment numbers, it is a real possibility that Southland could be moving from 11-man to nine-man football for the 2019-2020 school year.

Southland will be eligible to make the switch that season and that is when the decision will be made on whether or not to make the change will be made, according to Southland athletic director William Feuchtenberger.

“The only thing I can really say for sure is that we qualified for nine man football for 2019-2020 and the option to move up to 11-man is there,” Feuchtenberger said. “We’ll have to wait and see what the section alignment looks like. It’s two years away.”

The Rebels went 2-7 overall this past season as they were short on health players. Unfortunately, injuries have slowed down Southland over the past few years as the team’s lack of depth has forced younger players to have to play varsity football.

“We’ve been decimated with injuries over the last five years and our conference is so physical,” Southland head coach Shawn Kennedy said.

While moving to nine-man football would give Southland more depth, the Rebels would still have some tough teams to go against.

“Some of the best football in the state of Minnesota is in Southeastern Minnesota, and we’d still have to play Grand Meadow, Spring Grove, Houston and Lanesboro,” Kennedy said. “The competition would still be there.”