Six - man football Six - man football is a variant of American football that is played with six players per team , instead of 11 . History . 6 - man football was developed in 1934 by Chester ( Nebraska ) High School coach Stephen Epler as an alternative means for small high schools to field a football team during the Great Depression . The first six - man game played in Texas was on September 29 , 1936 between Sylvester High School and Dowell High School at the high school football field in Rotan , TX . Sylvester won the game 14 - 0 . In 1938 , Prairie Lea High took on Martindale High School in a six - man football game played as a demonstration game to see if the Texas UIL would adopt it as a sanctioned sport , which they did , and by spring of that year about 55 schools were playing the game . This number had doubled by 1939 and at one point in the 1960s there were more than 160 six - man teams in Texas . On October 5 , 1940 , Windham High School from Windham , Ohio defeated Stamford Collegiate of Niagara Falls , Ontario , 39 - 1 in the first international six - man football game . Jack Pardee , who played in the 1950s at Christoval High School in Texas is a 6 - man player who played and coached in the NFL . Chicago Bear Ed Sprinkle , who played six - man football at Tuscola High School in 1939 , is another former Texas High School 6 - man player who played in the NFL . Game play . Six - man is a fast - moving game played on an 80 - yard ( 73 m ) long by 40 - yard wide ( 37 m ) field ( instead of the normal 100 - yd ( 91 m ) by 53 - yd ( 48 . 8 m ) field used in 11 - man football ) . Furthermore , the game specifies a 15 - yard distance ( 14 m ) from the line of scrimmage to gain a first down , instead of the normal 10 yards ( 9 m ) . All six players are eligible to be receivers . On offense , three linemen are required on the line of scrimmage at the start of the play . The person to whom the ball is snapped cannot run the ball past the line of scrimmage ; however , if the ball is tossed to another player , that player can run or throw the ball and the person to whom the ball was snapped is still an eligible receiver . All forward passes to the player who snapped the ball ( center ) must travel at least 1 yard ( 1 m ) in flight . Scoring . Scoring is the same as in 11 - man football , with the exceptions being on the point after touchdown attempt and the field goal . A point - after kick is worth two points , while a conversion made by running or passing the ball is worth one point ; this is the opposite of 11 - man football . In addition , a field goal is worth 4 points instead of 3 . These rule changes were made because of the difficulty of successfully getting a kick off with so few blockers on the line compared to the number of defenders . In both University Interscholastic League and Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools competition , a 45 - point " mercy rule " exists to prevent lopsided scoring deficits ( no such rule exists in the 11 - man game ) . The game is ended under this rule if a team is losing by 45 or more points at halftime or at any point after . The mercy rule is alluded to in the title of the David Morse film about six - man football , " The Slaughter Rule " . Six - man football today . As of the 2012 – 2014 alignments from both UIL and TAPPS , the state of Texas has 195 six - man football teams ( 71 in UIL Division I , 67 in UIL Division II , and 57 in TAPPS ) ; this does not count schools in other high school leagues , such as the Texas Christian Athletic League ( TCAL ) , or schools playing " outlaw schedules " ( schools whose enrollment is too large to play six - man football in a league - sanctioned district , but nevertheless continue to organize a six - man team as opposed to an 11 - man team ) . The state of Florida has 32 teams playing six - man football in the Florida Christian Association of Private and Parochial Schools . FCAPPS comprises small Christian or private schools and at least one home school cooperative . Teams in the conference are as far south as the Keys of Florida to as far north as Jacksonville . The state of Alabama has 8 teams playing as part of the Christian Football Association ( www . cfafootball . org ) which is a sister organization to the Alabama Christian Education Athletic Association ( ACEAA ) . This will be the third year that the CFA has sanctioned 6 - man tackle football in the state of Alabama . The state of Colorado has 23 teams currently playing six - man football with the majority of teams being from small towns located in Eastern Colorado . The sport is also played by high schools in Colorado , Montana , Nebraska , New Mexico , Wyoming , Alabama and in parts of Canada . There are also two adult amateur football leagues : the San Antonio , Texas based Texas Sixman Football Association ( TSFA ) , and the Southeastern Christian Association of Sixman Football ( SCASF ) . The TSFA just finished their 10th season with 13 teams vying for their championship and the SCASF just completed their 5th season with 8 teams . There is also one semi - pro six - man football league in Central Florida . The A - 11 offense , the original version of which is now banned in almost all levels of football , could be seen as an adaptation of the six - man offense to 11 - man rules , with its wide - open style and the appearance of every player being eligible . Six - man football in books . In 2005 , coach C . H . Underwood authored what is considered to be the definitive strategy and play book for the game , " Six Man Football " , published by Bright Sky Press . A player during the 1960s and coach of the first Texas State Six - Man Championship team in 1972 , Underwood provides a thorough dissertation on the small - town sport from both analytical and historical perspectives . Another Bright Sky Press book , published in 2003 , " Grit and Glory : Six - Man Football " is a collection of photographs that capture the spirit of the game and its players . " Grit and Glory " exclusively showcases the work of art photographer Laura Wilson , mother of actors Owen Wilson , Luke Wilson , and Andrew Wilson . The newest release on the topic of Six Man Football is titled " Six : A Football Coach ' s Journey to a National Record " . The book was authored by Marc Rasmussen and published by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press . It includes a detailed history of Stephen Epler , the inventor of the sport and follows the life of Willis " Bill " Welsh who led a team from little Claremont , South Dakota to a national record for consecutive wins between 1947 and 1953 . More information available on the South Dakota State Historical Society Press webpage www . sdshspress . com . Six - man football in the movies . " The Slaughter Rule " , released in 2002 , used six - man football as played in Montana as the backdrop for an examination of the relationship between a fatherless renegade football player and his loner coach . The film contains a brief but adequate explanation of how the game of six - man football is played as well as footage of actual game sequences . The title refers to a rule in which a game is called in the second half if one team gains a 45 - point advantage over the other . In Texas and other states , it is referred to as the mercy rule . When invoked , one team is said to have " 45ed " the other . " Six Man , Texas " , released in 2008 , is a documentary film that explores six - man football as identity in the public high schools of the 160 small towns in Texas that play it . " The Seventh Man " , released in 2003 , documents two years in the lives of the Panther Creek Panthers , one of the storied programs in Texas six - man football . It features the narration of Val Kilmer .