Drive down Interstate 20, away from Fort Worth, Texas, and make a turn down the twisting roads that run through the state's northern hill country. There you'll find Strawn, population 653.
If you arrive on a Friday night and wonder where everyone is, look no further than Greyhound Field, where locals gather underneath the bright lights to cheer on their state championship-winning football team.
The Church of Texas Football is now a pillar of our zeitgeist (here's looking at you, Coach Taylor). But Strawn's services play out a bit differently than those in larger suburbs and cities. Because the town's schools are too small to fill a full roster, the Greyhounds play six-man football, a faster-paced version of the 11-man game.
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"Six-man has its own strong culture and dedicated fans," photographer Emily Berl, 29, said. "Kids play multiple positions and smaller players can really thrive."
Berl first stumbled across the team back in 2009. Inspired by memories of Texas' wide-open vistas, which she enjoyed as a kid visiting her stepmother, Berl left a photo lab job in New York to capture those views and explore those small-town stories from behind the lens. Working on a tip from her stepmother's friend, she ultimately found the six-man game and the impassioned residents of Strawn.
"My goal here wasn't to shoot a typical sports story," Berl said. "I was most interested in conveying what it is like to live in a place where football is such an integral part of the town, and a constant thread throughout daily life."
The photographer spent an entire season with the team, documenting their triumphs and their losses, the hits and the touchdowns. She made discoveries unique to Strawn ("the most amazing chicken fried steak in the world" from Mary's Cafe) and learned that there are just some universal truths no matter the size of your hometown ("teenagers everywhere are pretty similar").
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In the first game of the season, the Greyhounds lost. While it didn't count toward their record, the loss stung because they were coming off of a season that ended with a state championship.
"I remember getting back on the bus with the team to go home and sitting among the most dejected group of players I'd ever seen," Berl said. "The coach gave them a tough lecture and they were silent the entire ride home. That was the first time I really understood the importance of football in this place and the pressure these kids were under from themselves — and the town as a whole."
One small-town cliché did prove true:
"It usually takes a little time to get settled in a project and figure out the dynamics of a place," Berl said. "Everyone in Strawn let me into their lives. I asked a lot of questions, and they took the time to explain things. People invited me places, showed me things. I stumbled upon a very special place for this project."
Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
