Ezell-Harding leaving 8-man to return to 11-man football starting in 2022 season

Ezell-Harding is saying goodbye to 8-man football and welcoming back 11-man.

The Nashville private school, which chose to go to 8-man prior to the 2019 season as a way to help build back declining roster numbers, will compete as an independent team in 2022.

"Our football team has increased in roster size and participation since we moved to 8-man, which is what we had planned," Ezell-Harding athletic director Jason Charlton said. "We wanted to grow it back to the point where we felt we were ready to move back to 11-man."

First-year coach Corry Stewart has put together a schedule where the Eagles will play some TSSAA members as well as some non-members. TSSAA member schools are in the middle of two-year contracts so the school would be unable to be eligible for the TSSAA playoffs. The earliest that could happen is the 2023 season.

Ezell-Harding would compete in Division II-A once eligible to compete in the TSSAA playoffs.

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"It will be an independent schedule for the first year and then back to league schedule the following year," Charlton said.

Stewart came to Ezell-Harding from Lipscomb Academy, where he was the co-defensive coordinator for the Mustangs. He immediately went to work filling a schedule when he was named the coach.

"I wanted to make sure our schedule made sense to us," Stewart said. "I could schedule a bunch of Ensworths and MBAs just to make sure I had a schedule. We've got a couple TSSAA teams there, a couple independents as well and I had to go out of state as well. It's a mixture of all."

Ezell-Harding has reached the TSSAA playoffs 19 times. The program won its last Class 1A football state championship in 2001, beating Cloudland 63-26 to complete a 15-0 season.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.