Season Preview: Eight-Player DII Football

Jesse Vincent hasn't yet had the opportunity to see Hanover up close and personal as an opponent, but the Wheatland-Grinnell coach made a point to go witness the juggernaut as a spectator.

"It's absolutely impressive and it's so much fun to watch, and I have watched them," Vincent said of the Wildcats. "My sons and have been in attendance in the state championship games, just to watch them these last few years."

Hanover has been the gold standard in Eight-Player football as of late, winning four of the last five Eight-Player Division II state championships. The Wildcats have gone undefeated in each of their last four championship seasons.
Matt Heuer has guided the Wildcats to six championships in total.

"Probably the tell-all for me is a Facebook post I saw on somebody commenting on the success of Hanover," Vincent said. "And a reply from a parent was 'It's the weight room.'

"Obviously they have some buy-in with what they do with their strength and condition program, and it translates through every athletic program that they have."

Hanover dominated the title game last year, taking down St. Francis 46-24 in a battle of unbeatens.

Western Kansas is stacked with contenders hoping to unseat the Wildcats. Victoria, Wheatland-Grinnell, Thunder Ridge and Osborne all bring back talent and experience.

Like Heuer, Victoria's Doug Oberle knows a thing or two about winning it all, guiding the Knights to three state titles.
The Knights saw their bid for a perfect season end in the semifinals last year with a 44-24 loss to senior-heavy St. Francis.

Senior Grant Schoenrock will be a three-year starting quarterback for Victoria. The Knights lose a playmaker in Jayvon Pruitt but return four starters. Schoenrock also logged 110 tackles last year. Carson Werth ran for 608 yards and nine touchdowns last year a sophomore.

"Victoria's going to be right up there at the top," Vincent said. "They're always good and they return a lot as well."
Vincent's Thunderhawks have racked up eight wins in each of the last two seasons after going 1-8 in Vincent's first year as head coach.

"The confidence over the last couple years have soared for the seniors that have been a part of it all the way through," Vincent said.

Wheatland-Grinnell returns a trio of talented offensive playmakers in senior quarterback Trey Vincent, junior receiver Jett Vincent and senior running back Isaac Mendez.

Wheatland-Grinnell fell 44-26 in the sectionals to Victoria last year.

"We're basically returning everything in the skill category," Vincent said. "I've told anybody that will listen to me that I've been a terrible coach on the offensive line, so I spent some time this summer to make myself better and hopefully make them better, because I think that was key in the losses that we had last year."

The Thunderhawks will have to replace star linebacker Trevor Zarybnicky on defense. Jett Vincent has been a ball hawk in the secondary. He had nine interceptions last year and 22 in two years.

Another team loaded with experience is Joel Struckhoff's Thunder Ridge Longhorns. Struckoff, who led Thunder Ridge to a state championship as a player in 2011, is entering his fourth year as Longhorns' head coach.

Thunder Ridge returns all eight starters on offense and seven on defense.

"A lot of these guys have played since their freshman year," Struckhoff said. "And now a lot of them are juniors and seniors, and with that, you have a lot of experience out there that's got discipline on both sides of the football. It's really correlated in practice. It's been very crisp this year."

The Longhorns have a big weapon at quarterback in 6-foot-3 junior Dylan Bice, who threw for nearly 1,400 yards with 15 touchdowns last year. He also ran 974 yards and 14 scores.

"It's always nice to have a big, strong athlete like Dylan, and he has a good arm," Struckhoff said. "He's one of those guys that is a very smart player as well. Knows when to throw the ball, knows where to throw it, knows which receivers are open when they're in certain defenses."

Defensive end Kaleb Wagenblast had 10.5 sacks last year.

Three of the Longhorns' four losses last year were by single digits.

"Those games didn't end the way we liked them to, but we hope that with the experience level we gained, we can turn the corner and win those call ballgames this year," Struckhoff said.

The Osborne Bulldogs could be primed for a bounce-back year. Osborne, the 2019 Eight-player Division II state champs, went 4-5 last year. They return seven starters, including standout Mason Schurr, a 1,000-yard rusher last year. Bulldogs' coach Steve Tiernan has four Eight-Player state titles as a coach including two at Osborne.
A dark horse could be Frankfort, which went 7-2 last year.

"I think Frankfort's really going to be a team you're going to have to watch for this year," Struckhoff said.

As for the defending champs, Hanover lost some key pieces including Colin Jueneman, Jacob Jueneman and Jacob Klipp, but return two Topeka Capital-Journal honorable mention all-state selections in Philip Doebele and Emmitt Jueneman.

"Hanover's always right there at the top of the list and I think they're going to be right up there again" Struckhoff said.