Spearville hosts Central Plains, Otis-Bison and St. John for jamboree

SPEARVILLE – From 2013-18, Claflin-Central Plains is 63-7 with 8-Man, Division I undefeated state championship seasons in ’14 and last fall. The Oilers have consistently maintained strong roster numbers in that stretch with coach Chris Steiner.

CP had 27 to 29 Oilers every season before 22 last year, consistently among the state’s larger 8-Man rosters. However, Central Plains never had a preseason intrasquad scrimmage, normally held the Friday before Week 1.

This year, the Oilers dipped to 20 players. Steiner said “there is just no way” CP would have held a scrimmage this fall between the low numbers, a gap between first and second string and six freshmen.

“We would get somebody hurt is what would happen, and then we would be struggling in practice the rest of the year,” Steiner said.

However, Central Plains was one of many teams that participated in an inaugural Kansas jamboree on Friday night. The Oilers were part of one of the state’s more highlighted jamborees, along with 8-Man powers Otis-Bison and host Spearville. 

“It’s a lot more game experience compared to just little practice scrimmages, and hitting against other guys, not your own,” Otis-Bison senior Seth Hoopingarner said.

St. John, a team that has been through several years of struggle and dressed just nine players, was the fourth team on Friday night at Spearville High School. For virtually every team in Kansas, the regular season opens next Friday.

“Kids get tired of hitting each other in practice,” Spearville coach Travis Callaway said. “And then being able to go out and hit better teams, and see different offenses, different defenses and things like that, I think it’s only going to make game play Week 1 that much better.”

The Spearville jamboree received great praise from players, coaches and observers. Many states, notably Missouri, have had jamborees for years. In the spring, KSHSAA, by a near unanimous vote, approved jamborees to start this fall.

Kansas held more than 40 11-man jamborees, and 15-plus at the 8-Man level. Rexford-Golden Plains hosted a six-man jamboree. All jamborees had either three or four teams.

“For us small school schools, this is just awesome,” Steiner said.

Last season, Central Plains went 13-0 and allowed just 34 points, the best 8-Man scoring defense in at least 15 seasons. CP’s closest test came when it pulled away in the fourth quarter in a 30-14 season-opening win versus Ness City. Then, the Oilers defeated NC, 50-0, in the playoffs, part of eight straight shutouts.

“I think what this could have done for us last year,” Steiner said. “We go to that Ness City game not knowing, we are jumbling people around still. This would have answered a ton of questions for us. We probably would have went into that game a little differently.”

Callaway, who also serves as the Lancer athletic director, first started the conversations in the spring. At first, Spearville was uncertain whether they wanted to be a part of a jamboree. The Lancers, a 7-3 team in Division I last fall and state champions in ’15, have historically had a scrimmage.

“Small towns especially take a lot of pride in the scrimmages,” Callaway said. 

In the spring, Spearville decided it was going to participate. The Lancers have some of the better 8-Man facilities and elected to host. Callaway’s goals were to have a jamboree with teams the Lancers wouldn’t face in the regular season. He wanted the opponents to have varying styles.

Some teams Spearville reached out to were committed to other places. Veteran Spearville defensive coordinator Chris Sohm attended Otis-Bison and talked to his alma mater, a Division II school that is 90-51-1 under coach Travis Starr.

O-B had been in contact with Central Plains, a league school.

“Three really, good competitive teams, and I think St. John has potential to grow as a team as the year goes on,” Callaway said.

Spearville had concession stands and the cheer squad had a food line with walking tacos. The night featured normal pre-game music. For years, Ford County State Bank in Spearville had a watermelon feed at Spearville’s scrimmages. Callaway contacted the bank, which was willing to have the feed again. They provided several boxes of cut watermelon.

“Make it as much like a game night as it can be,” Callaway said. “…Anytime we can show off the facilities we have here, I want to. We have great facilities here at Spearville. Community takes pride in it.”

The setup featured two opponents on the field and two resting. Each team had 12 offensive plays starting at the 40-yard line. The third-to-last play always started at the opponents’ 10-yard line.

“Otis-Bison will run multiple different sets on offense,” Callaway said. “CP’s going to line up, and they are coming at you. They are physical, and then St. John with coach (Robert) Hall, they have got more of that Spred that you see more and more in 8-Man, I thought that worked well.”

By and large, the jamboree featured full tackling.

“That’s always the fear of this deal, but I am like, ‘We are going to go hard in practice, so what’s the difference?,” Steiner said. “At least we are going to get a look and see what we are going to do here against somebody besides ourselves, so I think it was a great deal. I hope they keep it.”

The jamboree opened with Otis-Bison’s offense against Spearville’s defense. The Cougars, with 17 players, scored in six plays on a four-yard touchdown from sophomore quarterback Kaden Foust. 

A first-year starter, Foust took over for his brother, Anton, a two-year starting signal caller and first team all-state pick who graduated. Anton was in attendance and helped with O-B’s pregame.

“I am just very proud of him,” Hoopingarner said. “He has gotten that work ethic like his brother.”

The 5-10, 200-pound Hoopingarner is listed as a senior running back/middle linebacker, though has long had a versatile role. He was slightly banged up early in the jamboree and quickly returned. 

“Everybody made it out healthy, which is the main thing,” O-B coach Travis Starr said. “I think we got better. Obviously for us, as small numbers as we’ve got, a scrimmage against anybody is really nice. Now we can get it on film and see what we’ve got. I think it will make game number one, I think a lot better at the start. I think you will clean up some of the sloppiness out of here, and hopefully it shows up next week.”

Hoopingarner caught several nice passes, including a 14-yard reception on the first drive.

“It’s so nice to do that in these little schools compared to big schools, you are just set to one place,” Hoopingarner said. “Especially like tonight, I got to just play wherever I wanted to, had a little fun.”

Spearville also scored on its first drive. The Lancers were long known for the Single Wing under former coach Matt Fowler, now in his second year at Oswego. Last year, Spearville returned to the Single Wing midway through the season. Senior Carson Rich, arguably the most impressive player at the jamboree, mainly played quarterback and had two rushes for 23 yards on the first drive. 

“It’s a good first step that we haven’t been able to have in the past,” Callaway said. “I thought even just like us in particular, made mistakes in that Otis-Bison one that when we played Central Plains we corrected, and so I think you will see a lot cleaner game play in that Week 1, and I think that will be the most beneficial out of the jamborees statewide.”

In just seven games last year, Rich rushed for 973 yards and 14 scores and is the team’s most experienced player with 182 career tackles. Junior Kenny Zimmerman takes over for all-state linebacker Kolby Stein. Sophomore Kolten Bennett will be in the backfield with Rich. 

Junior Tanner Miller moves from center to guard for a squad that has five seniors including Isaac Mettling, whom Callaway expects to have a solid year. Mettling is a returning starter at running back/defensive back. Callaway said the current Lancers grew up watching the Single Wing and “take ownership” in the offense.

“It gives us an advantage, because it is an offense you just don’t see, and so it makes teams have to prepare for something different,” Callaway said.

After O-B and Spearville, Central Plains faced off against St. John. The Oilers permitted just two yards on the first eight plays versus a Tiger squad that finished 0-9 and scored 64 total points in ’18.

One of the night’s highlighted plays came on CP’s second offensive snap. Jerred Bieberle took the handoff, broke away and nearly fell to the ground. He put his hand on the grass but his knee never touched. Bieberle bounced back up and raced in for a 36-yard touchdown.

“Coach always tells me when you are losing your balance get your hand down,” Bieberle said. “And I started falling forward, so I did what we call a three-legged dog and pushed myself back up and took off.”

Bieberle and sophomore Cole Lamatsch split time at quarterback, a switch that Steiner will likely have during the year. Bieberle is the former JV quarterback and was the varsity’s leading receiver last year. Bieberle will start at fullback and is expected to play quarterback when CP goes Spread. 

Bieberle and senior running back Lawson Oeser are easily the Oilers’ two most experienced players. CP has four seniors, and multiple changes, including a new line. Oeser delivered 675 yards on 8.7 yards per carry in ’18. He had several touchdown runs Friday.

“Probably going to go with Jerred in the Spread most of the time, just because he sees it so well,” Steiner said. “And he has run all that option stuff so much more than Cole has, and it’s nice because Cole’s versatile enough that he can go back and be that single back.”

“He does a good job blocking,” Steiner added. “He is fast enough to run a lot of the quick stuff we do out of that, so then also he’s a great receiver, too.”