First-year Belle Plaine coach Colton Koenigs played quarterback at Andover Central and at McPherson College. He served as Emporia High School’s quarterbacks coach the last two falls.
Koenigs had a long term goal to be a head football coach. For 2019, Koenigs, in his first teaching job, expected to serve as the Dragons’ offensive coordinator and work with the quarterbacks and running backs. In early summer, BP’s head football coaching position opened up. Dragon administration offered the job to Koenigs.
“My first thought at first was ‘Oh man, this is kind of early, I don’t think I was really expecting this, this early in my career,’” Koenigs said. “But when the opportunity comes, you can’t really say no, especially if your dream was to be a head coach. It really was my dream, and I just didn’t expect it to come as early as it did, but I am really thankful it did now. It’s been a great experience.”
Koenigs’ head coaching style came from several sources, including a summer meeting with highly successful Derby coach Brandon Clark. Koenigs’ father, Dr. Andy Koenigs, is the Derby assistant superintendent of human resources.
Coach Koenigs and Clark met in early to mid-June, shortly after he became BP’s head football coach. Clark stands at 123-36 with Derby and has reached the state title game five of the past six seasons. Koenigs has heavily focused on team competition in practice. Additionally, Koenigs has looked to address key, fundamental questions with his team, including “what is your why?” – an area he learned from Clark.
“Asking questions, listening, learning,” Koenigs said. “He asked me questions. It was really just more like a sit down personal thing. It was really nice. It was very freelance, bouncing ideas off of each other. It was pretty fun.”
Koenigs has led Belle Plaine to a 6-0 start, one of the state’s biggest surprises. On Friday, BP travels to 4-2 Eureka, which has also enjoyed a big turnaround. Both teams are 3-0 in Class 2A, District 5 and the contest will be for the district title.
Eureka has not won a district since before 2003. Belle Plaine’s last district crown came in ’96, and BP is off to its best start since ’92. BP has already clinched its first winning season since ’11, Eureka its first since ’13.
Last year, Belle Plaine was 4-5 and Eureka finished 3-6. Eureka was forced to play all its games on the road in 2018 because a tornado caused widespread damage to the football complex. The Tornadoes had to play two home games at Chanute and Iola in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively, because Eureka’s home field wasn’t ready.
In Week 3, Eureka nearly pulled off an upset against undefeated Humboldt, but lost 38-32. The Cubs, ranked fifth in 2A, made a huge comeback that included a recovered onside kick.
Eureka has captured three straight wins, all by at least 27 points, since it came home. However, second-year coach Jason Nichols has worked on addressing small issues that continue to crop up. The Tornadoes list 10 seniors after six in ’17 and four last year.
“I feel like we (mess) up just as often as we do stuff right,” Nichols said. “With personal fouls, we are holding, we are lining up wrong. … We are light years ahead of where we were last year, but we should be doing even better. We are still kind of getting in our own way at times. Honestly, it’s kind of frustrating.”
Junior running back/linebacker Brennan Lowe and Brent Escareno pace the squad with 507 and 419 rushing yards, respectively. Lowe leads with 41 tackles. The pair are also standout wrestlers who helped Eureka to the Class 3-2-1A championship last winter, the first athletic state title in school annals.
“I have honestly never had tailbacks that are this tough to bring down,” Nichols said. “They never stop. Their motor never stops. Their feet never stop. They are just tough, hard-running, like the typical wrestling kids. Tough as nails. They are both that way.”
Senior 6-foot, 190-pound wide receiver Zach Hare, a returning first team all-state pick, has 26 catches for 379 yards and five scores. Nichols said Hare is an excellent leader and has never missed a workout in his tenure.
Senior Cade Larcom has stepped in at quarterback with 68 of 129 passing for 1,201 yards with 15 touchdowns against five interceptions in his first year as the starter. Larcom served as the junior high signal caller. Like Hare, Larcom had great attendance in summer workouts. Eureka has nearly as many passing yards as it did all of ’18.
“He’s doing amazingly well,” Nichols said.
Hayden Mead has returned to football and emerged as a big surprise with eight catches for 292 yards and five scores as defenses have focused on Hare. Nichols is highly pleased with junior lineman Braden Rucker, who has eight tackles for loss and five quarterback hurries, both team-bests.
Senior Brandon Darbyshire (6-0, 235) is back at left guard, and Rucker (6-3, 225) returns at left tackle. Senior center Mason McDonald (6-3, 213) is also a returning starter. Nichols estimated that Darbyshire and Rucker have put on at least 20 pounds from ’18. Sophomore Kaman Johnson (6-3, 240) has been out the last two weeks with injury, but should return this week. Senior Lane Neighbors (6-1, 285) has filled in.
“Just dedicated themselves to the weight room,” Nichols said of Darbyshire and Rucker. “Gotten bigger, gotten stronger, and I think both of them understand our offense better. I think that’s part of it overall. It took awhile to learn the new scheme, and I think this year, we haven’t changed anything. We are pretty much doing the exact same thing that we did last year, which has helped them.”
For Belle Plaine, Koenigs’ competition in practices have helped with the turnaround. That has included giving the defense four plays to stop the offense, and third down situations. Whoever loses the competition has to do conditioning.
“I really like the team competition of it,” Koenigs said. “It reflects more of a game situation where everybody has to do their job, and it’s all 11 guys pulling around for one goal.”
Koenigs said Derby stresses finding the motivation to “get up everyday and to be great.” Koenigs has unpacked several questions with his team: Why are you out here playing football? What makes you put on those pads everyday? What makes you put the helmet on?
“Because if we don’t have that, I mean the rest really doesn’t matter,” Koenigs said. “There is no reason for us to be out there. So we really kind of dug deep and did some soul searching this year to find the ‘Why are we out here? Why do we love this game?’”
Belle Plaine has permitted just 34 points, second-best in the classification. After six games last year, the Dragons stood at 3-3 and had allowed 202 points. Belle Plaine has a similar defense to 2018 with a 4-3 look. Offensively, Koenigs believes BP has emphasized the run “a little more” than last fall.
“We play about as hard as anybody,” Koenigs said. “They want to win. They want to start changing the culture around the program, and they really just bought into what we are doing. They believe in themselves, they believe in each other, and it’s really just been a group of fighters all year.”
Senior Luke Baker, a running back the previous two seasons, has taken over at quarterback for since-graduated Bo Gooch, one of the better athletes in recent BP history. The skill players have included Caleb Steele, Austin Hilton and Eli Wiseman. Steele is the workhorse, ground-and-pound style running back. Koenigs called Wiseman the team’s lightning to Steele’s thunder.
Wiseman is a jitterbug-type back. Hilton and junior Tim Bible are key wide receivers. The offensive line is basically brand new starters, and Nolan Reynolds has anchored the front, mainly at right tackle. Koenigs said guards Henry Diaz and Enrique Montano have “done really great” and are probably the team’s most improved players. Sophomore Colton Brines starts at center.
Defensively, turnover creation is a critical part of the team’s success. BP does a pursuit drill everyday. In team defense practice work, the Dragons run a whistle drill. The first whistle blows and the team continues to sprint to the ball until the second whistle blows. Koenigs believes the team is plus-12 in turnover margin. Bible has a pick-six.
“Driving that home has really been a part of having hats on the ball – and good things happen when there’s a lot of players around the ball,” Koenigs said.
Senior Gerardo “G” Rathburn is the starting middle linebacker at 5-foot-7, 160 pounds with more than 50 total tackles. One game, BP had a guard suffer injury. Rathburn was the first to step up and offer to go play.
“Has been absolute nails for us,” Koenigs said. “He’s a little undersized, but he plays with more heart than anybody on the field. He has been by far and away our best leader on the team. He’s the voice of the team, he’s the pulse of the team, and he shows up to play. He’s by far and away the most unselfish player that I have been around. He is willing to play any position. He doesn’t care.”
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