Garden Plain’s head football coaching position opened late. Gina Clark, the longtime successful volleyball coach for the Owls, talked with her friends Ken Dusenbury and his wife, about the opening. Clark told Dusenbury - an Andover assistant the last nine seasons and an assistant for 21 years at various high schools, including Greeley County, Deerfield, Chaparral, and Wichita Southeast - to apply.
Dusenbury always told his wife he wouldn’t apply just anywhere. The place needed to have certain requirements if he were to make the commitment to be a head coach. Dusenbury liked how important Garden Plain football is to the players, school and community. Plus, his wife didn’t have to change jobs.
Dusenbury, an Attica native, earned the position, the first time he’d ever been a head football coach.
“You think it’s going to happen, and then your life circumstances aren’t quite right, or it’s not the right time, or the right position doesn’t open up,” Dusenbury said. “It’s always been a lifelong dream when I started coaching at Tribune, Kansas in ’94.”
Dusenbury inherited an inexperienced, but senior-heavy team from a tradition-laden program that went 4-5 the last two years. Even though Garden Plain lost senior Ryan Gudenkauf to a season-ending knee injury in Week 1, Dusenbury has guided the Owls to a 7-0 record.
On Friday, Garden Plain hosts 7-0 No. 4 Halstead in a key Class 3A, District 11 matchup. Gudenkauf, the starting middle linebacker and right guard, was the team’s best player and leader.
“Just the presence in the locker room,” Dusenbury said. “He was the first guy on board when we took over, and the kids were looking at me like I was crazy, he was in, and he is just a quiet leader.”
Garden Plain senior quarterback Alex Becker has grown into a leader since Gudenkauf’s injury, along with senior tight end/linebacker Zach May.
Garden Plain had an average score of 29-21 last season, while this year it’s grown to 34-9.
Halstead has made a big improvement defensively and ranks No. 1 in the classification with just 38 points allowed under first-year defensive coordinator Shawn Seematter. He played high school football under coach Jason Grider, had helped with some coaching duties in the press box, and served on Washburn Rural’s staff.
“It couldn’t have worked out any better,” second-year coach Grider said.
Last season, the Dragons finished 10-3 with a surprising run to the Class 3A sub-state title game. The Dragon’s average score was 37-17. This season, the run-heavy offense has averaged 44.7 points a contest. Halstead has yet to trail and has won nine straight regular season contests dating back to a Week 8 win last year, 58-0, versus Garden Plain.
Halstead faced a must-win district contest after it lost, 30-8, to Kingman in Week 7 last season. Then, the Dragons won four straight games after the Garden Plain victory. Halstead had lost three of the previous four versus the Owls.
“Our kids still had some questions, as anybody would,” Grider said. “We were a little bit up and down at that point in the season. Just had really gotten beat up by a really good Kingman team and really couldn’t get much going. Things just kind of clicked. I would like to sit here and tell you that we made some kind of adjustment or we did this or that, but something clicked, and from that point on, they’ve believed hook, line and sinker with what we are doing.”
Senior running back Blake Beckett and quarterback Eli McKee are arguably Kansas’ best 1-2 combination. Beckett has 1,155 rushing yards, while McKee has 765. Grider said both players are leaders, humble, and unselfish types who are great role models.
“One of those rare air type kids,” Grider said of Beckett, a 2,000-yard rusher in 2014. "I have been doing this awhile now, and this might be the only one you get, so you better sit back and enjoy it.”
However, Halstead has plenty of unheralded talent. Grider said the four-man rotation on the interior defensive line of seniors Zach Wright, Taylor Armstrong and Christian Morris and junior Gage Hardtarfer has played “outstanding.”
Seniors Casey Kohr and Dylan Ratzlaff have performed well at cornerback, and junior Chase Vansteenburg has played safety and walked up to play some linebacker. Junior Layke Heimerman starts at linebacker and leads the team with 11.5 tackles for loss.
“He is a big, strong, fast kid,” Grider said of Heimerman. “He is our fullback. Doesn’t get a lot of mention on offense or defense, but boy, he is really an unsung hero for us.”
The Owls own quality wins versus Cheney, Conway Springs and Chaparral. Garden Plain defeated the Chaparral with a 90-yard drive at the end of the game. Garden Plain starts nine to 10 seniors on defense. The Owls have run the ball well and made several big passing plays. Senior Walter Stuhlsatz has had a breakout year with 82 carries for 358 yards and four touchdowns.
“Senior leadership and kind of our consistency of effort to just continuously get better and kind of a slow, steady climb,” Dusenbury said. “…It seems like every game, we have somebody different step up and make plays.”
The defensive line has played disciplined, the linebackers have played solid and free safety Nate Pauly has delivered a great season. He has picked off a team-high five passes and helped the Owls intercept 17 passes. Pauly is a big play threat with 24 carries for 410 yards and four scores.
“He has the speed and intuition to have it be an eight-yard gain and not a touchdown,” Dusenbury said.
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