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Top-ranked Spearville has opened the season 7-0 and outscored its opponents 360-30. The Lancers have the classification’s best scoring defense and rank ninth in scoring offense. Similar to last season’s 10-1 team, Spearville has enjoyed outstanding starts in the first quarter of their games.
Spearville, which owns wins against South Central (6-1) and South Barber (6-1), has outscored opponents 178-12 in the first 12 minutes. South Central played Spearville to a 6-6 tie after the first quarter. In every other contest, the Lancers have led by at least 22 points entering the second quarter.
“Sometimes teams can get into some complacency where they kind of get off to some slow starts because they don’t take their opponent seriously enough, and then their opponent kind of steps up and hits you in the mouth early, and then kind of you wake up and play ball,” Spearville coach Matt Fowler said. “I’ve been very pleased – I think we have respected every opponent we have played, and we have brought our best effort to the table, and I think that’s what’s led to that, taking them seriously, enjoying to show up to play football together.”
Last season, Spearville started fast in a big Week 8 district road win versus rival Hodgeman County. The Lancers led 28-0 after the first 13 minutes en route to a 50-28 win. On Friday, Spearville plays host to rival Hodgeman County for the District 7 title.
Like last season, both squads are undefeated, though the Longhorns face injuries to key players. Sophomore Trevor Morgan (329 receiving yards) broke his arm last week. Senior Carson Cahoon (473 all-purpose yards, team-high 54 tackles) has had a concussion and is questionable.
Hodgeman and Ford – where Spearville is located - are adjoining counties. Last season, one mother had ties to both programs and wore half her shirt in Spearville blue and half in Longhorn red.
Hodgeman County is 9-3 in the last 12 meetings between the teams, and the Lancers’ win last fall ended a five-game losing streak in the series. Next year, Hodgeman drops down to Eight-Man, Division II, but the teams will still play in Week 3.
“Whenever you have a rival, let’s try to do something every day in practice that will make us more prepared, because that is a game that is coming up at some point in the season,” Fowler said. “It’s one of those things where if one team is a little bit better than the other, sometimes it doesn’t matter, because both teams are going to give their absolute best, and it’s always just a great game.”
Both teams have exceptional quarterbacks with Spearville senior Nathan Stein and Longhorn sophomore Jacob Salmans. Neither quarterback has thrown an interception this season. Stein has 450 rushing, 346 passing and 17 scores accounted for in the Lancers’ single wing. Salmans has passed for 1,114 yards, rushed for 296 yards and 21 overall touchdowns.
Salmans battled through a leg injury as a freshman last fall and couldn’t run well. He still finished with 1,443 passing yards and a 21:5 TD:INT ratio, but he couldn’t scramble and only played on offense. His increased mobility has led to better decision making in 2015. Salmans, an intelligent player, is the son of veteran assistant coach Oliver Salmans.
“He has gotten a lot faster since his freshman year, too,” coach Matt Housman said. “Instead of taking a bad throw, he has scrambled around a little bit and made a better decision on the throw or just keep it.”
Hodgeman County had to replace virtually all of its backs and receivers, along with all-state lineman Brennan Harms. Three seniors have started for the first time in 2015 and helped the Longhorns tally at least 50 points in each contest. Senior Wyatt Nuss has 67 carries for 781 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns, and 1,042 all-purpose yards. He had only nine total carries last fall.
“He looks like a million dollars this year,” Housman said. “We always knew he was kind of a little scatback runner, and we saw him do good things in JV games, but honestly … he looks better this year. I didn’t know he was capable of some of the things that he has done this year. He has surprised me for sure.”
Senior Tyler James has 13 catches for 414 yards and five touchdowns after not making a varsity catch in 2014. Senior Kyle Hayes has five catches for 145 yards and two scores. Housman said James has worked hard and went out for track last spring, which helped him significantly increase his speed. Senior Nick Shiew, a physical player, has stepped up on the line.
“They’ve been waiting, always working hard and they have really delivered this year for us,” Housman said of first-year starters Nuss, James and Shiew. “So I am real proud of those three guys.”
Cahoon (four carries as a sophomore) has 54 carries for 322 yards and nine rushing touchdowns. Junior Bryce Harms has taken over for his brother on the line. Senior Trevor Briggs in a three-year starter at center.
Spearville has enjoyed great defensive improvement behind plenty of experience. Spearville allowed 22 and 18.2 points per game respectively, in 2013 and 2014 while posting an 18-3 combined record.
This season, Spearville has not allowed more than 12 points in any game and won every contest by at least 46 points. The Lancers’ top-nine tacklers are all upperclassmen, including six seniors.
Stein, the leading tackler for the third straight year with 32 stops, has continually amazed his coaches. Last Friday, WaKeeney-Trego fooled Spearville on a play-action and had a receiver down the seam. Fowler thought the Lancers were going to complete the pass. Stein jumped from underneath and picked off the pass.
“An excellent play jumping up to go get it,” Fowler said. “I had to watch it about four or five times on film to kind of believe that it happened, because he did such a great job getting himself in the passing lane and stretching out for it.”
Fowler said senior Brady Sherraden has improved his overall athleticism and greatly helped against spread sets. Sherraden has sometimes played defensive line to rush the quarterback. He had missed the last three games of 2014 because of injury. This year he has 23 tackles, two sacks and an interception. Fowler called him “hungry” after missing the postseason as a junior.
Senior Dakota Kreger has quietly played great on both sides of the ball for Spearville. A three-year starter, Kreger plays guard and does a lot of pulling.
“He is a little undersized,” Fowler said. “He is not a real big kid, but I think that over the last three years, he has really been a tough kid and a leader for us up front. Very intelligent as far as making sure we are getting the blocking schemes right and everything. I think he is kind of an unsung hero.”
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