Six-man football (or, in our local shorthand, just “six-man”) is a small town tradition for towns that are too little to field a regular football team. The fields are 80 yards long, anyone’s an eligible receiver, and the scores can be pretty high. (The night before my photographic visit, the Ropes Eagles lost to the Ira Bulldogs by a score of 54-8. Earlier in the month, they lost to the Nazareth Swifts by a score of 74-58.)

Ropesville, Texas
photographed 9.24.2016