Last season, WaKeeney-Trego finished 1-6 with only a season-opening victory against Chase. Two games were cancelled because of coronavirus. Still, Trego returned nearly everyone for 2021, except for quarterback Kobi Shubert.
The Golden Eagles brought back 73 percent of its rushing yards, led by 529 and six touchdowns from speedy James Kriegh, a junior who posted a strong summer this year. Kriegh qualified for state track in four events: two sprints and the two shorter relays.
“He’s fast,” coach Pat Haxton said. “He has put a lot of strength on, a lot of speed on, and a lot of weight on this summer and this spring.”
All 38 receptions came back, paced by 17 from senior Cole Feldt, a core leader with 100 percent weight room attendance. The top-five tacklers returned with Kriegh, senior Tanner Sells, Feldt, senior Matthew Hafliger and sophomore Quintin Walt. As well, junior quarterback Owen Day is healthy after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of Week 3 versus Victoria.
Plus, 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior end Charlie Russell, a starter as a sophomore, elected to come back out. Feldt, Day and Russell were key basketball players for a 16-6 season last winter, the program’s best record in 12 years.
“Charlie never stopped working for me in the weight room,” Haxton said. “That was the biggest thing about Charlie.”
WaKeeney returned seniors Isaac Brungardt (5-8, 225), Garrett Kuhn (6-1, 200), Hafliger (6-0, 185) up front. Brungardt, Russell, Sells, Day and Feldt are the team captains.
Multiple coaches who saw the Golden Eagles this summer believed WaKeeney would be much improved in 2021. Haxton was encouraged with the jamboree performance, though still wasn’t sure how his team stood.
However, the Golden Eagles couldn’t show it in Week 1 when Chase forfeited. Haxton said the team “wanted to play so bad.” He was most concerned with conditioning for Week 2.
Last Friday, WaKeeney captured the state’s attention with a 76-28 road win versus Leoti-Wichita County, the defending Division I state runner-up and 13-1 in its last 14 contests. The game ended by the 45-point mercy rule. WC coach Brant Douglas missed the game. Haxton was really pleased with his team’s effort. He noted the defense played “really, really hard” and flew to the ball well.
“It’s just hard at our level to really get good looks offensively and defensively,” Haxton said.
“Offensively, it doesn’t affect it as much as it does defensively. You don’t get a lot of really good looks defensively. We couldn’t simulate what Wichita County is doing, or what anybody else is doing.”
Day, known for his dedication and work ethic, completed 17 of 28 passes for 181 yards with five touchdowns against one interception. He rushed 18 times for 142 yards and two scores.
“I thought we could play with them,” Haxton said. “I did not ever dream we 45d them.”
Kriegh finished with 16 rushes for 237 yards and four TDs. Russell, Feldt and junior Gunner Wilson combined for 14 catches. The team collectively had 9.5 tackles for loss in Trego’s biggest win in several years.
“My five skill guys on offense can match up pretty good with most people,” Haxton said.
The win vaulted WaKeeney to No. 5 in this week’s Division I rankings. The Golden Eagles travel to Victoria, 2-0 and ranked No. 2 in Division II in a key non-district contest. Victoria trailed briefly early, converted a first-quarter fake punt, and pulled away in the second half for a 52-26 road win versus La Crosse. Last week, Victoria played everyone in a 68-6 win versus Chase. Victoria coach Doug Oberle has won 80 percent of his games and three state titles.
“Doug Oberle is a great dude first of all,” Haxton said. “…Victoria is one of those towns that has those kids. Even if there is not a lot of talent on the field, those kids are going to play hard. It’s Victoria. They play hard, man. They go full speed the whole game, and they hit you. They are physical.”
While the Knights oscillate between classes, Victoria is 37-1 in its last 38 games in the Division II classification. Overall, Victoria has won 20 of its last 23 home games dating back to the 2016 season finale. Victoria captured the Trego matchup, 54-8, last season, the first contest between the schools since ’99, the Knights’ last as an 11-man program.
Day was hurt in the second series in the 2020 game. Victoria scored, then Trego countered. Victoria scored again. Trego was going down for a score and was inside the 10 when Day suffered injury.
“Vastly improved team,” Oberle said of WaKeeney from ’20 to ’21. “Maybe one of the most improved teams from one year to the next. Certainly up there with any team that I’ve seen. Offensively, they are very diverse. They are very balanced. I think they have great team speed. Obviously the Day kid just kind of makes everything go for them.”
After the Chase win, Oberle made the 12-mile trip from Victoria to Hays for a late dinner. His assistant coach told Oberle the WaKeeney score. Oberle confirmed the score was correct. It was.
“I texted coach Haxton, and congratulated him on his win,” Oberle said. “They certainly were a team that some people definitely had high hopes about.”
Victoria is known for his depth. In Week 1, the Knights trailed La Crosse, 6-0. Victoria running back Carson Werth called a fake punt in the first quarter, when the Knights converted.
“If we get certain looks up front, then it’s actually called on the field,” Oberle said. “And Carson actually called that play, and honestly … it was as big a play as we had in that game, and I know it happened very, very early, but that was a huge play for us. And to be honest, I would have never called it. So, when he started running, I got nervous. I missed the call, so I didn’t hear him make the call.”
Victoria led 22-20 at halftime and then scored 30 unanswered points. Four players – Werth, senior quarterback Schoenrock, Lane Schmidtberger and Nate Windholz – had between 88 and 95 yards. Victoria played four running backs a lot and could have used five. The Knights used six defensive linemen. At one point, Victoria rotated two or three each offensive play.
“I do feel like that is one of our strengths,” Oberle said of the depth. “Especially early in the year.”
Against Chase, Victoria’s starting tailback and quarterback combined for one carry. Schoenrock is one of Kansas’ most well-known eight-man players. He has won a playoff game each of the previous three seasons as the starting quarterback. Windholz played tailback as a sophomore, guard as a junior and fullback this year.
“Nate had a tremendous summer I thought,” Oberle said. “Tremendous offseason in terms of the weight room, gotten a lot stronger. I have been really pleased with how he’s run the ball. I thought he’s had some really good vision. I thought he’s done a pretty job. Blocking from the fullback position is not an easy thing to do. I think he’s getting better. I don’t know that he’s where we need him to be completely there, but he can catch the ball out of the backfield.”
Without Russell last year, Trego was often split out with no tight end set.
“Just makes it impossible for protection as young as those guys were,” Haxton said.
This year, Russell can help with blocking, especially with max protection schemes. Hafliger plays at left guard, Brungardt plays center and senior Garrett Kuhn is the right guard. Russell starts at tight end. Haxton said Kuhn has probably improved as much as anybody in the offseason with his strength and attitude.
Trego’s 575 total yards marked the program’s first 500-yard offensive game since the 2014 season finale versus Quinter, per MaxPreps archives.
“Isaac is pretty strong in his lower body,” Haxton said. “And Matthew has just got long, lean muscles. …(Matthew) has got really good hip flexibility. He’s pretty strong, pretty explosive.”
After Friday’s big win, though, Haxton was still uncertain how good his team was. The Golden Eagles have another opportunity to take another step Friday. He told his players after Wichita County that they “set the bar high.”
“You have also got everybody’s best game coming after that, so you better be ready to play everybody’s best game,” Haxton said. “And Victoria doesn’t have those bad games.”
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