AGENCY ONE AGENCY Y ONE

2022 Record: 4-5 / Northwest Kansas League

Head Coach: Grant Wiegers (3rd year, 5-13)

Assistants: Brock Waters, Ryan Agan

Offense: Gun Pro Defense: 3-2

Returning starters: Jordan Smull, C/DT, 5-7, 195, Sr.; Dodge Fromholtz, TE/LB, 5-11, 165, Sr.; Connor Wachsmann, OL/DL, 5-11, 170, Sr.; Colton Raile, OL/DL, 6-0, 210, Sr.; Ian Taylor, WR, 5-9, 149, Sr.; Lucas Raile, QB, 5-10, 185, So.; Layn Todd, DB, 5-10, 160, So.

Returning Statistical Leaders: Rushing: Layn Todd, 328 yds. Passing: Lucas Raile, 673 yds. Receiving: Dodge Fromholtz, 237 yds. Tackles: Dodge Fromholtz, 98 tkls. Sacks: Dodge Fromholtz, 7 Ints.: N/A

Head coach’s outlook for the 2023 season: “(Our goals this season include a) winning record, making the playoffs, hosting a home playoff game, and winning at least one playoff game. Continued growth in our discipline, mindset, and character, continued growth in our passing game, improving our turnover ratio, improving our run defense, and limiting explosive plays (are key to achieving those goals).”

Notes: Grant Wiegers engineered a significant turnaround in his second year at St. Francis last fall, taking a team that was 1-8 in 2021 and finishing 4-5, and in spite of the fact the Indians struggled against the best teams on the schedule – some of the best teams Rawlins County, Quinter, and Wallace County have produced in several seasons – the season closed on a relative high note when the Indians pushed a good Sylvan-Lucas team to the brink in a 30-22 loss that kept Sainty from advancing in the postseason. Now Wiegers welcomes a very experienced squad, punctuated by a pair of key sophomores, to play a schedule that saw some of the top teams suffer key graduation losses and put the Indians in position to effectively continue the rebuild.

2022 Record: 2-6 / SPIAA

Head Coach: Kelly Anthony (4th year, 4-20)

Assistants: Seth Anderson, David Enns

Offense: Spread Power Defense: 3-4/4-3

Returning starters: Joseph Anderson, RB/DE, 6-1, 195, Sr.

Returning Statistical Leaders: Rushing: Joseph Anderson Passing: N/A Receiving: Joseph Anderson Tackles: Joseph Anderson Sacks: Joseph Anderson Interceptions: N/A

Head coach’s outlook for the 2023 season: “Senior Joseph Anderson is a stud. Great leader, super coachable kid, can play every position on both sides of the ball. Also, our junior high kids are killing it. They have some talent and have 100% attendance this summer.”

Notes: The Indians were very competitive against a tough schedule last fall and put up 38 and 32 points in tough losses to Minneola and Bucklin to go with the three wins. Now, Satanta coach Kelly Anthony will have a significant rebuild this season thanks to the graduation of his son, Kacen, a standout quarterback and defender for the Indians who is now playing collegiately at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas. The older Anthony also saw a number of experienced players opt not to come back out for football this fall and he expects just 11 players on the team heading into the season. He does return one key player from a season ago in senior running back and defensive end Joseph Anderson. Anthony calls Anderson “a stud,” and says he can play any position on the field. While Anthony says this season could have its challenges, he’s excited for the future thanks to a dedicated and talented group of junior high students who he described as “killing it” over the summer in the weight room. The season starts at Sublette against a team that suffered similar graduation losses.

ST. JOHN-HUDSON

2022 Record: 1-8 / Central Prairie League

Head Coach: Justin Nusser (4th year, 3-22)

Assistant: Omar Portillo

Offense: Single Back/Multiple Defense: 3-2

Returning starters: Joe Drake, 6-1, 170, Sr.; Abelardo Llanas, 6-0, 155, Sr.; Alan Valenzuela, 6-0, 145, Sr.; Aden Adame, 5-9, 190, Jr.; Daniel Portillo, 5-7, 195, So.; Randy Calvillo, 5-5, 220, Sr.; Tegan Tanner, 6-3, 250, Sr.; Eli Foote, 5-9, 160, Sr.

Returning Statistical Leaders:

Rushing: Joe Drake Passing: Braxton Alpers

Receiving: Alan Valenzuela Tackles: Daniel Portillo

Head coach’s outlook for the 2023 season: “We expect to compete this year with an ‘every play matters’ approach. We want to play physically up front and control the tempo on offense. On defense we need to play assignment sound with a focus on improving in our pass coverage game.”

Notes: The Tigers saw significant improvement last fall in spite of posting just one win, a 28-6 victory over Otis-Bison in Week 3. St. John also lost close games to Ness City (12-8) and South Barber (36-30) and scored 46 and 25 points in high scoring losses to South Central and Satanta to close the season, just a year removed from getting shut out in six games and scoring more than one touchdown just once. Now in his fourth year, coach Justin Nusser expects to continue the growth behind a strong group of seniors.

ST. PAUL STAFFORD SYLVAN-LUCAS VICTORIA

2022 Record: 4-5 / Three Rivers League

Head Coach: Dane Cummings (1st year)

Assistants: N/A

Offense: N/A Defense: N/A

Returning starters: Zachary Kirkpatrick, OL, 6-3, 250, Sr.; Matthew Lestikow, OL, 5-10, 195, Sr.; Cooper Newberry, C, 5-10, 220, Sr.

Returning Statistical Leaders: N/A

Head coach’s outlook for the 2023 season: N/A

Notes: St. Paul closed out their ninth and final season with Keith Wiatrak as head coach at 4-5, getting knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by a loaded Canton-Galva team. Wiatrak went 61-31 in his time leading the Indians and is now turning over the keys to first year head coach Dane Cummings. St. Paul graduated significant talent and experience, especially at the skill positions, where running back/linebacker Kiser Wiatrak, quarterback Trey Peter, and receiver Landon Beachner, were all in the class of 2023. The Indians did put multiple big juniors along the offensive and defensive fronts last season who are now seniors.

2022 Record: 8-1 / Heart of the Plains

Head Coach: Mitch Engelken (2nd year, 8-1) Assts.: Jeff Lowther, Jimmy Brozek, Mark Soria

Offense: Spread Defense: 3-2

Returning starters: Jimi Olsen, WR/DB, 6-0, 165, Sr.; Axel Ortiz, OL/DL, 5-11, 245, Sr.; Alexis Garcia, OL/DL, 5-9, 200, Sr.; Brody Kerschenske, OL/DL, 6-5, 215, Sr.; Cody Knoche, RB/LB, 6-1, 185, Jr.; Dylan Brozek, FB/LB, 5-11, 180, So.

Returning Statistical Leaders: Rushing: Cody Knoche, 141 car., 990 yds., 12 TDs Passing: Jacob Simmons, 4-7, 41 yds. Receiving: Jimi Olsen, 25 rec., 364 yds., 4 TDs Tackles: Brody Kerschenske, 84 tkls. Sacks: Brody Kerschenske, 15 Ints.: Jimi Oleson, 3

Head coach’s outlook for the 2023 season: “It will be a very difficult challenge to replace our six seniors lost to graduation, but our goals and expectations will remain the same. We want to play fast, play together, and be assignment sound. We have good size and athleticism to go with some solid experience returning. My personal goal is to build upon the relationships with each of my players and continue pushing them to give 100% each day. The season goal is to build off of last year and continue to raise the bar for Stafford Trojan Football. Overall, we will do everything possible to limit and learn from our mistakes, while finding ways to play through our strengths.”

Notes: All Mitch Engelken did in his first year leading the Trojans was guide them to eight straight wins to open the season before a losing a heartbreaker with Bucklin in Week 9, 32-30. It may be difficult to match that performance in his encore this fall thanks to the graduation of six seniors, most notably All-State QB Dylan Gantz and All-State D-lineman Josh Hildebrand, but the cupboard is not bare. Junior running back Cody Knoche returns after rushing for nearly 1,000 yards last fall and D-lineman Brody Kerschenske returns after tallying 84 tackles and 15 sacks. Lineman Axel Ortiz and receiver Jimi Oleson also return after earning all-league recognition.