Hungarian Peasant Folk Dance Music and Why Does McCook Always Win

Defensive Coordinator Russ Schlager in foreground, Defensive Backfield Coach John Gumb and Head Coach Jeff Gross, in the background; direct the Bison in their first round Playoff game with Alliance

As I departed the Bison Stadium after McCook’s first round district game with Alliance, I was stopped by a blue windbreaker wearing gentleman I assumed to be an Alliance supporter, perhaps a parent. Our conversation went as such: Him: Aren’t you that writer guy I read about in the paper? Me: Yes. Him: Then you must be pretty smart. Me: Depends on who you ask. Him: Then I have a question. Me: Ok. Him: Why does McCook always win? Me: I don’t know. Maybe it was just their night. Him: It is always their night. We have just as good of players as them and we are just as big. I don‘t get it. Me: I don’t know what else to tell you. Him: I think they are just darn lucky. 

He spun on his heels and left, obviously dissatisfied with the non-answer he got from the smart writer.

I was due in Linton, ND the next afternoon for a Class A state playoff game and was faced with an all-night eight hour drive to get there. I was not looking forward to the lonely passage through the Sand Hills on a dark, moon less and cold night.

North of North Platte, NE and south of Pierre, SD, Highway 83 hits a stretch where no over the air radio stations are available to the bored traveler, with the exception of National Public Radio. As a card carrying Democrat, I whole heartily endorse NPR and hope that their funding, which has become an election year political football exploited by those dastardly Republicans, stays intact. However, there is only so much Hungarian Peasant Folk Dance music a body needs in one day. So imagine my delighted surprise when I discovered that due to the evening air ways carrying a stronger signal, that I could pick up one commercial AM station, the 50,000 watt giant KMOX, directly from my hometown of St. Louis, MO. Due to this stroke of good luck, I was able to listen to Mike Shannon butcher the English language as only the lovable “Moon Man” can, as he described the last three innings of the Cardinals 7^th game historic World Series win over the Texas Rangers. 

In between Shannon’s malaprops, as he told an elated home town audience of the Redbirds unlikely march to their 11^th world title, I contemplated the gentleman in blue’s question: “Why does McCook always win?”

By the time I crossed the border from Nebraska into South Dakota, with the Sioux Nation’s Rosebud Casino on my left, the question had gnawed at me enough that I spent the next 3 1/2  hours of driving through South Dakota formulating in my mind an answer.

By the time I reached the North Dakota boarder, having cheated a 45 mile detour of Highway 83 by taking a gravel road route that a weather-worn farmer had shown me back in August, usurping those cursed “government” barriers that if obeyed, would have added close to an hour to my already long enough trip, I had the answer: The Bison do not beat themselves. It is that simple to label, but much more complex to understand. I next needed to break down and examine each detailed plank Coach Gross has laid in building his powerhouse program.

Gross’ long term success is built upon preparation. The formula for another Friday night win begins each preceding Sunday evening in the Gross Family/Rec Room as the Bison coaching staff gathers to formulate the upcoming week’s practice schedule that will, they hope, come to fruition with a well execute game field performance on Friday night.

Many coaches can formulate a great game plan on the chalk board during a Sunday night meeting, but are unable to transfer the plan to the playing field on Friday night because they either do not understand, or will not accept, the number one rule of good teaching: accountability. If the student fails to master the task, then the teacher has failed, not the student. McCook players master their football tasks so well that many times they collaborate with the coaches to make game field adjustments.

During half time of one game, Gross was not happy with defensive end Matt Collicott for allowing the opposing quarterback to get to the sideline for a long gain. “You got to have contain on the naked boot, what happened,” Gross barked. “Their end scraped and I went with him,” the lineman answered. “Why can’t you do that?” an animated Gross demanded. “Cause Javier has the receiver on the drag pattern and nobody else is back there,” correctly answered the player. “So what do you do this half,” Gross quizzed. “Stay home and contain,” the player said. “Then do it, dammit,” Gross conclude, the correction of the mistake completed.

On the first possession of the second half, the same misdirection roll out by the quarterback was again attempted. This time though, the opposing signal caller was met head on by a “stay at home” Collicott and dropped, dammit, for a five yard loss.

The Bison gather for their pregame and halftime instruction on home game nights in the area below the north grandstands of their stadium. For 5 to 7 Friday nights a year, the location serves as a makeshift command center for the battle planning of the town’s teenage heroes. The other 360 or so days of the year it is a storage area for the grounds crew who takes care of the stadium. Amidst tractors, lawn mowers, hoses, crescent wrenches and other assorted tools; the team will assemble. Before each home game, as I stepped in to hear the coaches’ instructions, I always had a mind flash to the classic comedy movie Caddy Shack

The second plank of the formula for Bison success, which builds on the back of plank 1, is the organization of the large staff Gross oversees and how they contribute to both preparation and the game night execution of the team. For any given game, 6 to 8 assistant coaches will join Gross on the sideline, another three to four in the Press Box, communicating to the coaches on the sideline through radio headsets. The efficiency and the success of the instruction given to the Bison players is because the McCook coaches, when it comes to teaching football skills, are all on the same page. With many teams, when a player, either in practice or a game, receives instruction from more than one coach, the frustration of the athlete becomes apparent due to contradicting instruction given my multiple coaches. I have never once, either in practice or a game, seen that happen at McCook. The instruction is rapid fire in its delivery and to the point. It is most importantly consistent from one coach to the next. The correction is made, the grasp of the athlete’s understanding validated and the practice or game continues without interruption or delay.

The third plank is that Gross has an uncanny ability to place his players in positions where their skills will allow them to be successful. Gross does not ask his players to do things they can’t do. Bob Elder, a longtime local booster of the team, told me on my first trip to McCook, that over the years, he has seen Gross time and time again make personnel moves that have proved to be just the right assignment for both the player and the team. When Jake Schlager, arguably the Bison’s most irreplaceable player, broke his leg in week 9, Gross adjusted his playbook to accommodate Shlager’s replacement at tailback, Kyle Stewart. The junior is a talented hard runner, but he does not have Schlager’s speed. “We are not going to ask him to be Jake,” said Gross, the week before the Alliance playoff game, the first game plan that would not include Schlager. “You don’t replace that speed. We can adjust.”

The next plank is Gross’ loyalty to his upperclassman. Players growing up in McCook know that if they stick with the sport, training on the sub varsity levels as they are required too, that when they are juniors and seniors, there will be a spot for them on the varsity stage. They will have the chance to run through the Bison Helmet onto the green game field under the bright Friday night lights; before a packed and cheering stadium. It is the main reason that McCook will dress on game night 50 to 60 varsity players.

Next, Gross will listen to his trusted and able assistants. He loves to tell the self-deprecating story of his first year in McCook and his attempt to instill a Mouse Davis style wide open offensive passing game. It didn’t fit. “Wouldn’t have blame them if they would have fired right then for that stunt,” he says now, 14 years later. That off season, Gross sat down with his assistants and created the more vanilla veer style option offense that has become the trade mark of the McCook dynasty.

Finally, the consistency of Gross’ conservative approach to the game plan does not vary. McCook will run the football. If the Bison cannot control both lines of scrimmage, then Gross feels they cannot win. His defense philosophy mirrors that of the offense, also conservative in nature. Gross says that his defense will bend but not break. “We dink you to death,” is how he once described it to me.

For the McCook conservative approach to be successful, field position is an absolute for the Bison. They must be able to impose their conservative will on the flow of the game. Paramount to their ability to dictating game pace, year in and year out, lies with McCook having the best special team's play in the area. That is not just a happenstance of luck, but a cause and effect result of long term planning.

McCook begins training punters and kickers in Junior High. From a list of 15 or so kicking hopeful candidates in 7^th grade, the group will be pared to 2 or 3 survivors by the time a class reaches the varsity level.

Voluntary summer training sessions with professional kicking instructors develop the skills of the McCook specialists, not only kickers, but also long snappers and holders. The depth of the kicking ranks in this small high school speaks of the emphasis the coaching staff places on the importance of dominating the kicking game. In pregame warm up, the Bison will have three place kickers blasting 40 yard plus field goals, while on the other sideline will be a couple of punters launching 50 yard spirals. Twice this season, Matt Chitwood, whom Gross calls the best placekicker in the state, has won double overtime games for the Bison with walk off field goals. Gross, in August, also labeled his punter, junior Matt Collicott, as the best punter in the state. When Collicott was injured against Lexington, his back up, senior Tyson Carr, stepped in and for his first varsity game as the #1 punter, hit three critical 4^th quarter punts, ranging from 43 to 47 yards with 0 return yards, to keep Adams Central mostly pinned in their own end of the field for the decisive late minutes of a three point win. If Collicott is the best punter in the state, then his back up Karr is number 1A.

The importance of field position for a defense built on the principle of bending but not breaking was on display in the first round playoff game with Alliance. Twice in the first half, the visitors from the Panhandle broke 50 yard plays. However, both efforts began with the ball deep in Alliance territory, 80 to 85 yards from the McCook end zone. Eventually, neither long gain led to any points for Alliance, despite twice covering over half the field on one snap of the ball. The first ending with an Austin Cherry interception, the second on a missed field goal attempt. Due in large to winningthe field position battle, McCook raced from the gate to a dominating 21-0 first quarter lead. 

As the Sun rose over a breaking perfect weather day for high school playoff football in Linton, ND, I felt satisfaction in that I had unlocked the secret of the long term success on the grid iron of the McCook Bison: they don’t beat themselves and, with all due respect to the man from Alliance whose inquiry stimulated me to make constructive use of my time on an all-night drive through the Sand Hills; Gross is riding a 14 year lucky streak.

More of Our Interview with Coach Tom Osborne

Tom Osborne

Osborne explained to me that the roots of the walk-on program were set in pragmatic ground. “In the mid 70’s, the NCAA dramatically reduced the number of scholarships that Division I schools could award. It went from 45 initial football grants each year with no total limit to a limit of 105 total.  In 1978 the limit was lowered to 95 and in the early 1990’s to 85.”

The reduced number of scholarships meant that there were now a lot of high school players who may have the potential to play Division I football, but were now passed on due to the limit on scholarships . “That became the basis for starting our walk on program at Nebraska,” Osborne said. “There were years, especially when we still had freshman programs, that we might have 100 walk-ons. With numbers like that, you will always be able to find a few players, at least, who have Division I ability, but for some reason were overlooked out of high school.”

Nebraska quickly earned a reputation where a walk on would be given a real chance to compete for a playing spot. “We treated the walk-ons the same as we did scholarship players. The person who earned the spot in practice is who would play on Saturday. We would normally try and keep five to seven scholarships open each year to award to players who had come to us as a walk-on. We did a study over a five year period and it averaged that of our 60 players on our travel squad each year, 24 had come into the program without a scholarship.”

An added benefit, Osborne told me, was the way the program cemented the loyalty of the entire state to Nebraska football. “Football is a developmental game,” the coach said. “So much more than say basketball where most kids out of high school are ready to play. A small town Nebraska kid might not be physically ready to play at age 18, but give him a couple of years and get him into our strength program and he goes from 6’4 220 pounds to 6’4 290 pounds. Now he can physically compete. Our strength and conditioning program in the 70’s and 80’s was well ahead of most others. That really helped a lot of our small town Nebraska kids who came to us as walk-on lineman. We found a lot of good players that way. High school coaches around the state knew their kids would get a fair chance with us and would encourage their players to come here. Anytime you can play a lot of in-state young men,  that will create interest and loyalty in that boy’s home town and that loyalty will build over the years.”

But beyond the above mentioned benefits; roster depth and state wide interest, Osborne said that the most important contribution the walk-ons gave to the NU program was the culture it created in the locker room. “I always felt we had the hardest working teams in the nation,” Osborne said. “Year in and year out, we would win because out kids just worked harder than they did at other schools. I contribute that to the tone set by the walk-ons. Just by the nature of a young man who is willing to turn down a scholarship at other schools, and many did, to come walk-on here, with no promise of a scholarship, then that is a player who is confident in their own abilities and is going to overachieve. They are going to be hard workers. Remember, we had so many of them, often times 40% of our roster. If you are a scholarship player and you see a guy without a scholarship who plays your position who is working twice as hard as you are, then that is going to get your attention. You can either buy-in and pick up your effort level, or you will not be around here very long.”

A Signature Play

photo by Alan Hale

Canadian defense grounds Stratford running game



Many times, fair or unfair, teams such as Canadian, who utilize a wide open offense build around the forward pass will be given the label of a “finesse” team, or even more damming in the manly world of football, a soft team; one that does not like contact. Koetting knew that in regard to his team, nothing could be farther from the truth. He knew his defense was a fearless hitting machine. Their team pursuit when flying to the ball was a real strength that would be invaluable as the playoffs progressed. Even though his line was often out sized, on both sides of the line of scrimmage, Koetting grew more confident as the season progressed that they were capable of succeeding on the highest levels of Class 1 play. His young line was coming together on the offensive side, while the defense anchored in the middle by seniors Ty Morrow and Salvador Escambia, now reinforced by the return from an early season injury of senior linebacker Colton Cades, had been solid all season.

Still, the Wildcats had lost three times when, in each game, they had not taken advantage of last second opportunities to win. Late minute letdowns, on both offense and defense, had proved fatal in all three losses. Koetting harped all week to his team that he needed someone to step up when the game was on the line and make the big play, make a statement. We have play makers, so let’s see those play makers make plays, was the challenge he issued.

“We need that opportunity, with the game on the line, to show that we have people who will step up and bust somebody in the mouth when we need to.” That opportunity, in perfect fashion, would present itself against the Elks, and the Canadian player to lay down the hammer would be an unlikely candidate.

With 2:02 left to play in the game and Canadian nursing a precarious 3 point lead, Stratford faced a 4th and 1 at the Canadian 25 yard line. A little long for a game tying field goal attempt, the Elks, a macho self-styled  team who had for years prided themselves on winning the battle in the trenches, had the Canadian defense on its heels, methodically picking up 5 to 8 yards per pop, inexorably moving down the field for what they intended to be a game winning touchdown . There was no doubt what their choice for a 4^th down play would be.

The script was playing out eerily in the same scenario that had seen the Wildcats lose earlier to both Perryton and Sunray: the offense had been inside the red zone with the lead and under five minutes to play. A score in either situation would have given Canadian a two possession lead and probably sealed the win. In both games, the offense failed to produce points. In both games, the defense then allowed the opposition to march down the field for the winning score. Here we go again.

But tonight would be different.  Coach Carr had his defense in a short yardage alignment and had inserted an extra lineman, Camron Pearson, a 5’7, 225 pound senior fire plug. Having seen little playing time early in the season on defense, Pearson made the most of this opportunity, meeting Elk’s running back Alex Chavoya square in the hole at the line of scrimmage and emphatically pile driving him backwards for a classic “pancake” take down tackle.

Game Canadian.

It was a signature play, a season defining effort. The Cats had shown they could go toe to toe with a physical team, slug it out for 48 minutes, and come out the victor.

A big old kid that never stopped being a kid

One particular monster loss brought the Bison nation to its knees, cutting much deeper than any disappointment on the scoreboard: the death of long time and popular assistant coach Ron Coleman. “Ron was my right hand man. He was here when I got here and was deeply rooted in the community. Everyone like Ron and everyone respected him. He was just so special to so many people. He taught me so much,” says Gross. “He and I ran the offense together, but I learned so much form him, about both football and people.”

                                         

On November 29, 2004, shortly after a heart breaking last second loss in the state finals, a setback that denied the Bison a third straight state title, tragedy struck suddenly. “I was going over to pick up Ron at his house,” recalls Gross, still obviously emotional seven years later when recalling the event. “He was going to ride with me to Lincoln to an awards ceremony. It was on a Sunday.  I couldn’t get anyone to answer the door, so I walked around back and that is when I found him.”

Coleman had climbed onto the roof of his house to dislodge some ice that had formed overnight. Somehow, he had slipped and fallen, resulting in serious head injuries. “Ron was still alive when I found him,” says Gross about his 52 year old colleague. “We got him to the hospital, and they airlifted him to Omaha, but by the next day, he was gone.”

The news of Coleman’ death spread quickly and was a punch in the collective gut of the town of McCook. The community went into shock. "I still remember it taking several days for the fact he was gone to settle in. It was like a bad dream,” says Gross.

“We are so close as a town and this was just so tragic and so unexpected,” recalls Max Bordersen. “RC taught elementary PE. The kids loved him, he was a big man (6’5”, 240 pounds), but he was just a big old teddy bear to those kids.” As those elementary kids have grown and moved up to the high school, Coleman’s name has not been forgotten, says Bordersen.

At a mid-season practice in 2011, John Gumb, the veteran of the McCook staff, with almost 40 years of service to the Bison program, recalled his longtime friend and colleague, “If RC were here right now, and he would be almost 60 years old, he would be right over there with the punters, his right shoe and sock off, out kicking everyone. That is just how he was; a big old kid that never stopped being a kid. He was one of those people that everyone loved just being around him. That is why everyone loved him."

As Bordersen noted, many of the current Bison came under Coleman’s influence when they were elementary students. Even today his legacy and influence, seven years after his death, lives on. “I know there have been times coaches have referred to Ron’s memory when challenging our players to meet a problem head on. He had that kind of influence on people,” says Gross.

Even the Women are Pissed Off.

Even the Women are Pissed Off

The date is a little hazy and so is the location. In fact, they can’t even all agree if it was an 11 man game or a 6 man contest. What they do agree on is that the ole boy was big, dressed like he just got off a tractor; and he was clearly not happy.

I am having 7 am coffee with seven veteran high school football officials. The group represents 70% of the high school officials in the McCook, NE area. There are two five man crews, located out of McCook, that have worked high school games together for years. Between the seven men, they have 209 years of high school football officiating experience. Arthur Skinner is the long tooth of the gang, with 40 years of blowing his whistle on Friday nights. Nick Johnson is the pup, with a mere 12 years in stripes. The others are Bob Elder (31 years), Brian Esch (26 years), Jim Hall (31 years), Paul Wood (24 years) and Darren Esch (25 years).

The unhappy farmer approached the crew as they departed the field for the half time break, and gave them the line that would become their manta, of sorts, for future self-evaluations of their craft: “you guys are so bad,” the farmer said, “even the women are pissed off.”

Since then, I was told by the group, “We now evaluate ourselves after each game by comparing notes and seeing if we had pissed off the women.”

That type of camaraderie is why both crews go out in every type of weather imaginable for the privilege of been the target of outrage from half of the crowd almost every Friday night from August to November. All agreed they got into officiating because they loved playing the game in high school and wanted to stay involved. The pay, about $75 a night, is for certain, not a driving motivating factor.

Several mentioned they had considered coaching, but for various reasons, had gone into other lines of work. Sometimes, their occupations can overlap with their officiating duties.  Paul Wood is the County Prosecutor. He recalls a time, “years ago,” when the star of one high school team was in jail. Wood was scheduled to work the “big game” that Friday night. “I worked the game. He stayed in jail,” laughed Wood. Bob Elder owns several successful sporting goods stores throughout southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas areas. He is chided by his partners, “we always got to go find Elder to get the game started. He’s always over on the sideline somewhere trying to sell a coach some shoes.”

With so many years of officiating experience at this impromptu breakfast, as can be expected, the anecdotal stories flowed like the early morning coffee:  A coach in 6 man that still wore his high school letter jacket on the sideline’s during games; a mismarked field that when the first down chains were placed on the 10 yard line and stretched to the goal line, went three yards deep into the end zone; a contest interrupted by two dogs on the field during the game “making puppies;” an official with a medically implanted penis pump that for some reason malfunctioned during the game; and so on.

Both crews are highly regarded around the state and are often given the assignment of working the biggest games in the area, including several state championship contests. “We don’t ever have them,” says McCook Coach Jeff Gross, “because they are all from McCook, but I know both crews are well respected by coaches around the state. They are two of the better crews.”

The relationship with coaches, all present agreed, was important. Brain and Darren Esch both recognized that the roles of both officials and coaches were interwoven in that both were in service to the young people on the field. “Football is a great learning experience and that is why we are out there, for the kids,” Darren Esch said, while recognizing that the role of the coach is more deep and committed, - a coach is involved in a vocation that is his livelihood; while an official takes a couple hours a week to follow a avocation that caring for his family is not dependent upon. “Coaches are under a lot of pressure,” said Brian Esch, “we know that and respect that.”

Arthur Skinner, with his 40 years of experience, was asked about the changes he has seen over the last four decades. “The players are so much bigger, so much faster and so much stronger than they were when I started,” said Skinner. Credit the upgrade to weight training, says Skinner. “In the old days a 250 pound lineman was often just a kid who was way overweight, fat. Today, that 250 pounder is likely (to) be nothing but solid muscle. The collisions on the field now are so much more physical than they use to be. And then of course, the issues with using the head as a weapon, the big concern today with concussions. The game today is just so much more physical, so much faster than when I started.”

All agreed that the lack of younger officials entering the trade is a concern, especially for McCook. “These guys have been together so long,” says Nick Johnson, speaking of 12 years prior, when he first picked up his whistle, “it is hard to break someone new in.” The problem with getting new people involved, says Elder, is timing. “Every game counts,” he says. “There really is no place for a guy to learn without the pressure of making a call that might be the wrong call and cost a team a game.” That, all agreed, is a problem in a job that you are expected to be perfect your first game, and then improve as you become more experienced.

Jim Hall noted the watershed effect that is going to hit the area in the not too far distance. "Most of us got started about the same time and for a lot of years we have taken care of the schools and they know we are here. When we get out, it will be around the same time for all of us and it is going to take a lot of new people to take our place, or there will be a big void. And that day is not that far off. We really need to start training some younger guys, the next wave, so to speak.”

Football officials execute their duties, when compared to their basketball bretheran, in relative obscurity. With the exception of a pass interference call (or no call), most often a football official will not be in the sight lines of the spectators or participants. “We like it that way,” Johnson said. If after the game, no one can remember who the officials were, then they have done a good job. Johnson is the only one of the group who currently officiates basketball.  “In basketball,” he said, “the officials get a lot more notice. Sometimes that can lead to guys in basketball who are out there with big egos. That can cause problems. People did not come to watch the officials. We need to remember that,” he said.

So why do they do it?  To get it right, says Skinner. “That is a good feeling after the game, when we know we did the best we could. We hustled, we were in position and we gave the players a good effort. We are a part of the game, a part that without us the game couldn’t take place.” Edler concurred, “We take pride in doing our job with the best effort we can give. That is why we go out there each Friday night.”

How long will they continue? All seven answered, with non-committal laughs and shoulder shrugs- inconclusively.  My best guess; as long as there are women to piss off, these guys, for as long as they can, will every Friday night in the fall, don the stripes, warm up the whistle and do their duty.

Riding the Storm Out: a year of inner city high school football

Several have asked about the first book in our series on high school football; Riding the Storm Out: a year of inner city high school football. You can view the work at http://www.stlhsfb.com/  You can also order the book as well, through paypal. All orders are shipped within 24 hours.

Continue to follow our blog on Highway 83 football. Plans are to have the book on this project; Rushing the Line: the amazing connection between good football and winning economies at America's 50 yard line.

Homecoming in McCook, NE

Senior Queen Candidates

The Senior Homecoming Queen Candidates for Friday night are: Kalie Kennedy, Amanda Fuchuck, Kelsey Collicott, Elizabeth Wilcox, Betsey Hardin and Emily Tolliver. The MHS student body will vote on Friday for the winner and the Queen will be announced after the completion of the game vs. Adams Central.

I have a friend, whom by any social measurement of her life’s accomplishments, would be labeled an unqualified success. Still a few years on the sunny side of 40, she can look back at a life that has displayed across the board achievement. In particular, her school days are a resume that would make anyone jealous. A widely decorated athlete and an accomplished scholar, she won it all. All-State on the courts and track, combined with top academic standing in her class, she was the quintessential golden girl every parent dreams of. 

One night, in a rare moment of vulnerability – perhaps due to inhibitions loosened by the lubrication of a few malt beverages - she made a startling revelation to me about herself. All of her high school awards and accomplishments, she told me in a whisper, she would have gladly traded for the one honor that eluded her in her high school days of glory; “I always wanted to be Homecoming Queen, ever since I was a little girl” she admitted in a sad voice, little tempered by the passing of 20 years, “I dreamed about it, but I didn’t make it. I would gladly have traded every other honor I won to just be Homecoming Queen.”

The celebration of Homecoming in small town high schools across this vast nation is a community rite of passage and the social event of the school year. It is a time of not only celebration, but of amazing transformation. A farm wagon, used 364 days a year for the mundane chore of  hauling hay, on one magic Friday night each Fall, becomes –with the generous application of crape paper - a throne worthy of royalty, a setting for the Queen and her court. A sleepy town square, dusty and empty on most days, is now a “parade route,” lined with the town’s young and old; those who dream of what will be and those who remember what once was.

The highlight of the week’s long celebration, the one moment no one will miss and the most breathtaking transformation for the town to witness occurs during the halftime introduction of the Homecoming Queen candidates. Girls who come to school each day sans makeup, dressed in their normal attire of jeans and tee shirts, or after school in their volleyball practice gear; now take the spotlight. Wow. They are, for that one shining night at least, the best the town has to offer, the fairest maidens in the land. Dressed in total splendor, hair done just right, evening dresses, elaborate makeup and stylish shoes; no expense spared, they command attention. A proud but nervous dad, searching but failing to find the right words to confront what he has long tried to ignore; the reality of his little girl maturing into a women, will awkwardly offer, “cleans up nicely, don’t she?”

36 inches short of immortality

The almost legendary Spencer Bruntz at Wednesday's practice

With 14 second left in regulation, Lexington set up for a 28 yard chip shot field goal that if successful would derail McCook’s hopes for an undefeated season. Gross called timeout and rallied his kick block defensive unit. “I have a feeling, I have a strong feeling we are going to block this kick,” he told his players. His intuition was dead on. Senior lineman Spencer Bruntz broke through the center of the line to cleanly block the kick and scoop up the resulting loose ball, setting the stage for a play that was both incredible and comical, and would come within one yard of being miraculous.

After the blocked kick, since the ball had not crossed the line of scrimmage, it was live and could be advanced by either team. The ball Buntz was holding was still in play. He stood in the middle of the field, for an instant, unsure of what to do. His teammates were celebrating the block while the Lexington players, heads down, retreated to their sideline to regroup for the overtime session. Bruntz stood alone, holding the live ball!

Coach Gross jumping up and down on the sideline like a man on fire, motioning for Bruntz to run, finally caught the lineman’s attention. “So I thought, alright, I will run with it,” Bruntz said after the game. With an unexpected once in a lifetime opportunity to be a hero dropped in his lap, into the wind, towards the Lexington end zone, he rambled, 80 yards to victory.

Doing his best rendition of “run, Forest, run,” Bruntz ran down the sideline past the Bison bench. Suddenly, he picked up an escort, Coach Gross. Caught up in the moment, adrenaline flowing and perhaps the theme of Chariots of Fire blaring in his head, the coach ran stride for stride with Bruntz. After pacing his would be hero for 40 yards, Gross’ brain finally caught up with his body, announcing “you are 43 years old and not in the best of sprinting shape,” abruptly grounding the coach in mid stride with what was later diagnosed as a hamstring pull.

Alone now, Bruntz still had 40 yards of open field ahead of him and one alert Lexington player, Quarterback Jeremy Callahan, sprinting after him. The Minuteman had an angle on his prey, the lumbering Bison lineman dead in his sights, but the pursuer was still a good 10 yards behind. It was going to be close.

                                              

Charitably described by his coach after the game as not the fastest guy on the team, Bruntz began to lose steam 20 yards from the end zone and what would be the most unlikely game winning touchdown in the history of Bison football. “I kept thinking I am almost there, keep going,” Bruntz said after the game. “When I got to the 10, I thought about diving into the end zone, but then I thought, if I don’t make it and land short, everybody will be laughing at me.”

As Callahan closed in for the tackle, Bruntz using his last ounce of energy lunged for the end zone pylon. At that last possible instant, Callahan caught the McCook lineman’s left leg, spinning him off balance and forcing Bruntz out of bounds at the one yard line.

As crazy a play as anyone in the McCook crowd could ever remember witnessing was over. In its’ wake lay a hobbled coach 40 yards up field and an unlikely hero 36 inches short of immortality. Overtime.

Coach Tom Osborne

If any man on the face of the earth can take credit for the popularity of football in the state of Nebraska, it is Coach Tom Osborne. For many in the state, Osborne is the face of Nebraska football.

A native of Hastings, NE, Osborne’s coaching career at NU was nothing short of remarkable. From 1972 to 1998, Osborne’s NU teams compiled a 255-49-3 record for a winning percentage of .836.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of interviewing Osborne from his Athletic Diretor's office in Lincoln. That interview will be a part of our upcomning book on small town High School football.

Tom Osborne’s has led a life that exemplifies all the personal qualities that Nebraskans hold dear: humility, accountability, loyalty, hard work, and success. At the conclusion of our interview, Tom Osborne, who graciously gave me 30 minutes of his time, one of the greatest football coaches ever, thanked me for taking the time to talk to him. Can you believe that?

The Ghost Town Gyms of Highway 83

Many other small towns along Highway 83 are even worse off, having not survived, fallen into the state of a ghost town. Despite that most are no longer even listed on a map, I still on my travels must pass through their decayed remains, municipal road kill, a rotting carcass on the side of the road. The crumbling buildings tell the story of a community that for whatever reason, did not adjust sails to the changing economical winds. Now mere memories -deserted and forgotten - boarded up buildings that once housed a living community. It is sad even to a stranger like me, passing through at 65 miles per hour. The demise of each town and the broken dreams that accompany any failed community, I am sure, would make a good book in itself. However, is anyone left to tell the tale?

In almost every one of these deserted hamlets I encounter, I can identify the building that once was the community school. I speculate that the section of the “school house” that is two stories tall was the gymnasium. I imagine years of  basketball games played on frigid January Friday nights when two small prairie towns packed it to the rafters, necessitating the opening of the windows, just to cool the place down. From the banker to the town drunk, everyone was here to witness the drama and the heroics of the local team, a respite for one night a week to the drudgery of life in a lonely prairie town. And I wonder what happened to the trophies, earned by sweat and blood and once displayed with such pride, won on those long ago cold winter nights?

Weather Proof

Weather Proof

McCook is going to run the football, period. If an opponent allows them to, they will run it down their throat. Head Coach Jeff Gross has a very pragmatic reason for not having fallen for the glitz and bright lights of the currently in vogue spread offense that so many high school teams now run. The spread, which is a spin off of the west coast offense made famous by the San Francisco 49’ers in the 1990’s, is often run without a huddle and from the shotgun formation. It is dependent upon precise reads, disciplined pass routes and exact timing.

When all the proper ingredients align, it is a thing of beauty.

The spread offense has taken over high school football; it is run by a majority of teams in every section of the nation, turning many games into a gridiron track meet. The football is passed all over the field, with little concern for game factors such as down, distance and score. Scoreboards on Friday nights around the country, thanks to the spread, now spin like a Kansas windmill in a tornado. This sexy new way to win football games is fine, says Gross, but this is Nebraska.

“Our big games are in November and they are played outdoors,” Gross said.  Rain, snow, blistering winds; “we have played in some horrible conditions in the state playoffs.  No artificial turf, no dome.” Gross takes the approach that when it is 10 degrees outside, with a 40 mph wind blowing in from the north, then McCook’s veer offense is a better fit than a high risk passing scheme.  “Let’s just say,” Gross reasons, “that our offense is weather proofed and battle tested for Nebraska playoff weather.”

The State of NPR

Dusk in the Sandhills of Northwest Nebraska

We realize, but often do not appreciate just how vast and empty many areas of the American West are. Viewed from a jet plane window at 30,000 feet, the landscape is impressive; but from ground level, it is daunting.

Having traveled the 1000 miles along Highway 83 - from Antler, ND to Laredo, TX - several times, I have a firsthand appreciation of how open this marvelous land is. Close to 1/3 of the trip’s route lies in what I have come to call the state of NPR. You are traveling through the state of NPR when you push the scan button on your car radio and it spins like a Las Vegas roulette wheel, stopping only once each cycle, at the precise same spot, 88.9, home on the dial of National Public Radio.

Homecoming Royalty, Canadian, TX

I have a friend, whom by any social measurement of her life’s accomplishments, would be labeled an unqualified success. Still a few years on the sunny side of 40, she can look back at a life that has displayed across the board achievement. In particular, her school days are a resume that would make anyone jealous. A widely decorated athlete and an accomplished scholar, she won it all. All-State on the courts and track, combined with top academic standing in her class, she was the quintessential golden girl every parent dreams of.

Canadian High Homecoming Queen and Her Court

(L to R) Carley Knight, Autumn Chidester and Queen Shelby Saul

One night, in a rare moment of vulnerability – perhaps due to inhibitions loosened by the lubrication of a few malt beverages - she made a startling revelation to me about herself. All of her high school awards and accomplishments, she told me in a whisper, she would have gladly traded for the one honor that eluded her in her high school days of glory; “I always wanted to be Homecoming Queen, ever since I was a little girl” she admitted in a sad voice, little tempered by the passing of 20 years, “I dreamed about it, but I didn’t make it. I would gladly have traded every other honor I won to just be Homecoming Queen.”

The celebration of Homecoming in small town high schools across this vast nation is a community rite of passage and the social event of the school year. It is a time of not only celebration, but of amazing transformation. A farm wagon, used 364 days a year for the mundane chore of  hauling hay, on one magic Friday night each Fall, becomes –with the generous application of crape paper - a throne worthy of royalty, a setting for the Queen and her court. A sleepy town square, dusty and empty on most days, is now a “parade route,” lined with the town’s young and old; those who dream of what will be and those who remember what once was.

The highlight of the week’s long celebration, the one moment no one will miss and the most breathtaking transformation for the town to witness occurs during the halftime introduction of the Homecoming Queen candidates. Girls who come to school each day sans makeup, dressed in their normal attire of jeans and tee shirts, or after school in their volleyball practice gear; now take the spotlight. Wow. They are, for that one shining night at least, the best the town has to offer, the fairest maidens in the land. Dressed in total splendor, hair done just right, evening dresses, elaborate makeup and stylish shoes; no expense spared, they command attention. A proud but nervous dad, searching but failing to find the right words to confront what he has long tried to ignore; the reality of his little girl maturing into a women, will awkwardly offer, “cleans up nicely, don’t she?”

The 2011 Homecoming Queen for Canadian High School is Ms. Shelby Paul. She was escorted by her twin brother, Ballard. Shelby also has an older sister, Morgan.  Shelby has been very involved in activities at CHS. A class officer for four years, Shelby is also a very contributing member of the basketball and tennis teams. After graduation, she intends to pursue a degree in Nursing at Wayland Baptist University.

Blitzkrieg and the Canadian Spread Offense

photo by Alan Hale

Sophomore Boston Hudson makes a leaping circus TD catch of big brother Braden Hudson's pass.

Time for a quick history lesson: On September 1, 1939, Adolph Hitler unleashed his war machine on the world with an invasion of the independent nation of Poland. A startled and suddenly terrified world watched as Hitler’s powerful military juggernaut executed a new strategy of war; Blitzkrieg. Translated, lightening war. When perceived world military powers France and England came to the aid of their ally Poland, Hitler turned his armies east and invaded France. Spearheaded by his Panzer tank divisions, and backed by the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe; the new war making technology that Germany now had perfected was no match for the British and French militaries, both still vested in outdated WW I military equipment and methods.

The Maginot Line, a system of fortified French trenches on the common French and German border, was breached by Hitler’s tank divisions in days. For many years, this line of defense was the pride of the French military, giving its citizens a sense of security against their vanquished WW I foe, the Germans. When Hitler’s mechanized Panzers, followed by German infantry divisions, swatted aside the Maginot Line like a fly, the rout was on. Hitler literally drove the French and British armies into the Atlantic Ocean, climaxing with the desperate evacuation of the survivors at the French port of Dunkirk. For the next four years, Hitler would have total control of the main European continent, and as history has recorded, come so ever dangerously close to conquering the world.

Blitzkrieg is the best description of the 12 minutes it took on Friday night for Canadian to blow away Panhandle High. Using the newest in modern football offense- the spread- to perfection, the Wildcats were unstoppable. When the smoke cleared, a 14-7 Canadian lead had been stretched to 48 to 7.

Each year the senior football players at Canadian develop a slogan. This year's is the acronym: F.A.S.T.; which stands for Faith, Attitude, Strength and Tradition. It also describes the way the Cats like to run their no huddle, spread offense.

In the Week 6 game with the Panhandle Panthers, Canadian showed, when they truly Play F.A.S.T., just how lethal they can be.  With 2:28 seconds left in the first half and his team in the lead 14-7, Coach Chris Koetting called timeout. Canadian faced a 3rd and 12 from the Panhandle 14 yard line. Koetting used the sixty second break to verbally lash into his team. The Cats had driven the ball into the red zone on their last two possessions, but due to costly penalties and a couple of missed blocking assignments, Canadian had come up empty on both trips. Koetting now both spit out his frustration and laid down a challenge to his team. "Gentleman, we have played around enough,” Koetting said. “We are letting them hang around. Right now, from here on in, we play F.A.S.T. We haven't done that yet. We talk about it, now show me you really mean it. I want the tempo jacked up where we like it. Sprint to the line of scrimmage. Get the play called and let’s go. We will wear them down."

Fast forward to 2:28 left in the third quarter, and let the scoreboard tell the tale of the 12 minutes of play after Koetting’s challenge: Canadian 48, Panhandle 7. Once Koetting put his foot to the gas, the Wildcats were a team in perpetual motion, an unstoppable whirlwind that Panhandle had the misfortune to have encountered at the wrong moment in time, thus incurring the resulting carnage of the Wildcat fury.

As Koetting had predicted, the pace wore down the larger Panhandle players. A pass rush that had been problematic for Canadian early in the game, was non-existent by the middle of the third quarter, as the frenzied pace that Koetting drove his team to left the Panhandle defenders gasping for air, hands on their knees.