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With 6 divisions in South Dakota High School football, it's not rare for a 9-Man team to have a pretty small roster.
The Marion Bears, however, have taken that to a whole new level this season.
"The worst is not having a scout team. We've got dummies but we hardly use those," Marion senior Jordan Tunge said.
The Bears have 13 players on this years roster, but for most of the season they have played with just nine guys.
"We've got to go through some things that you normally wouldn't do if you had enough players to accomplish a full offense and defense," Marion Head Coach Todd Obele said.
Still somehow the Bears have found success with the bare minimum going 4-3 in their first seven games this season.
"It just takes the right 9 to put a team together and get stuff accomplished," Marion QB Nick Gortmaker said.
It also takes a whole lot of conditioning and toughness to stay on the field for a full 48 minutes.
"Never to give up because there's nobody to come in and switch with you so you have to tough it out," Tunge said.
"We've set forth a program that we had this summer and they came out and did it and they've come out and continued that throughout the season so they've worked hard at it," Obele said.
And as the Bears make a push for the playoffs this fall, their coach couldn't be happier with how his team has responded to adversity.
"They've worked hard and committed themselves and with commitment comes success...so I'm proud of them. I'm proud of what they've accomplished this season so far, but the season's not over yet," Obele said.
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