A pretty much expected decision happened last month. After spending multiple cycles as the smallest public school in Iowa by BEDS numbers playing 11-man football, North Tama will drop to 8 going forward. (Story: North Tama Telegraph.) About half of the opponents NT has played over the past 30 years have made the same decision. The biggest historical opponent losses will be Grundy Center and Hudson. AGWSR and BCLUW are also on that list for now, but both could drop in this cycle or the next.
(Fun fact, according to Cyclone Fanatic: Through the end of this year, North Tama is the last team to have beaten Grundy Center in the regular season… in 2019.)
The change will be big. I have no idea how or if Dennis Field itself will be changed, because 8-man games are played in a smaller space.
I would support changing the definition of 8-player to Class B football in Iowa, resurrecting a long-gone categorization in a different way. That would also free up the opportunity to split into Class 1B and Class 2B, should the number of teams participating be enough to do so.
While NT may be parting from nearly all its former North Iowa Cedar League opponents of the 1930s-80s, enough schools between US 20 and I-80 are playing 8, including Gladbrook-Reinbeck, GMG, and Belle Plaine, that future districts could be relatively compact. (And… ugh… Don Bosco, who could drop 70 on us as a welcome present. Bleah.)