The Winamac Warriors (1A School 293 enrollment) 5 years ago had only 7 wrestlers in the varsity program... Using Classed Team State as a carrot along with - Getting a local club started, and VERY involved Head Coach with involved assistant coaches all way down through middle school we have 23 on the High School Roster this year... its not 50 kids BUT we fill the weight classes and are getting competitors in the room..
I can't begin to know the frustrations of running a Team Tournament like this but I do know that our kids get excited and just the chance to possibly be able to compete at a State level Tournament even if its not IHSAA.
Why not embrace the change and try it for couple years (one year is not even close to get enough data to make a decision on)
I like the idea of 8 teams larger 2 classes 12 teams smaller 2 classes... no matter what choice is made there will be upset people just nature of the game...