Greg Koenig achieved great success in an 11-year run at Beloit, including a state runner-up, with his high-powered, physical double wing attack. Koenig, a longtime English teacher, took the Cimarron head football coaching position.
In late spring, Cimarron's P.E./weights instructor job came open. Mike Schartz and his wife are Cimarron natives and wanted to move back home.
Schartz served as a leading assistant during Wichita Heights' rise under Rick Wheeler and was head coach at Campus and Wichita Southeast. Schartz contacted Koenig when he was still in Beloit. Schartz said he "would love to come onboard" Koenig's staff with the Bluejays.
"'Be the best, most loyal assistant that you could imagine,'" Koenig recalled Schartz saying. "And he's been true to his word."
Schartz has taken over Cimarron's weights and served as defensive coordinator, one of several instrumental changes for Cimarron, a team with five head coaches in five years. Koenig and Schartz spent the summer together leading the Bluejay weight room from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.
"It just so happens our concepts and our philosophies are very, very similar," Koenig said. "In the weight room as well as on the football field, and so it has just been a great fit from the beginning."
The Bluejays posted a 7-2 regular season and made the playoffs for the fourth straight year, fifth time in six seasons, and sixth occasion in the last eight falls. Cimarron is 0-5 in the playoffs since '10.
Last year, the Bluejays had dual threat quarterback Nick Ast, a Kansas State commit, and lost to Larned, 35-30, in a first-round upset, the Indians' first playoff win since '85.
On Tuesday, Cimarron plays host to Hoisington (6-3) in one of the state's premier first-round matchups. The Bluejays’ last playoff victory was a 21-6 result versus Holcomb in ’98.
“We challenged them – do something that hasn’t been done here in a long time,” Koenig said.
The Cardinals went to the state semifinals last year and defeated Cimarron in the playoffs, 48-6 in '14, and 76-19 in '13. Hoisington has received more than 1,250 rushing yards from senior Sean Urban and owns a 32-14 road win in Week 6 against Nickerson, ranked fifth in 4A-II.
"This has been our best week of practice this season," Koenig said. "Our guys are mentally focused, and physically we're very sharp in our assignments on both sides of the ball. Just feel like we are kind of hitting our peak at the right time."
Koenig and the team have talked little about last year's loss or the consistent change among head coaches.
This season is markedly improved on both sides, especially defensively, and has the program's best average margin of victory (plus-24) since at least 2006. When Koenig interviewed, Cimarron asked him: How do you get the kids to buy in, how do you get them to trust you? Koenig said “there are no guarantees in life” and didn’t make any promises other than one.
“I am going to ask the players to give me their best every day, and they are going to get my best,” Koenig said. “I am going to love them, and I am going to coach them, and our coaches are going to mentor them, and we are going to teach them, and we are going to get better every single day.”
Three seniors - running back/linebacker Josh Seabolt, fullback/linebacker Jaylen Pickle and right guard/defensive lineman Derek Bogner (6-0, 210) - are four-year starters. Pickle is a Kansas State commit. Seabolt captured the Class 3-2-1A wrestling championship at 182 pounds last winter, the first Bluejay wrestling titlist in school annals.
Schartz has incorporated a variety of different looks, including even front, 4-3 and 4-2. Cimarron has permitted just 13.6 points per game with losses only to Holcomb and Scott City, ranked second and first in Class 4A-II, respectively.
"Coach Schartz is a defensive genius, and I have just kind of turned him loose on that side of the ball," Koenig said. "Took him a little while to figure out what our kids were going to be really good at, and we just feel like we are very flexible, and we are playing defense rather than just buying into one defensive concept, just putting our kids in positions to run and make plays."
The Bluejays have tallied 37.6 points a contest, up from 28.4 a year ago. Cimarron has typically had strong offenses and delivered 30.7, 32.1, 29.0, 38.0 and 28.4 points a contest the previous five seasons. Last year, the Bluejays permitted 19.1 a contest, which marked the best scoring defense from '06-16. Seabolt leads with 99 tackles, 11 for loss.
"Josh Seabolt is one of the best linebackers in the state, and then Jaylen Pickle is one of the best defensive linemen in the state, but we've found some other kids who do their jobs exceptionally well," Koenig said.
Offensively, the 5-9, 205-pound Seabolt has 220 rushes for 1,488 yards and 16 scores. Pickle, at 6-6, 280, is mainly a blocker. He has rushed 65 times for 329 yards and 13 scores.
Koenig said "very few kids have improved in blocking" during the course of a year as much as Pickle has. Pickle had to learn to block from the backfield with his angles and footwork.
"Very fortunate to have some outstanding athletes on the roster," Koenig said. "Kind of interesting to go from a spread offense to a power running game, and I think our kids have accepted the mentality.”
Beloit consistently churned out 1,000-yard running backs with Koenig. Early on, Koenig sent Seabolt clips from Hudl from some of the past Trojan standout backs. Once wrestling was over, Koenig started to talk with Seabolt about how he envisioned the senior helping Cimarron.
Junior Dylan Newton (5-11, 175) starts at left end alongside tackle Josh Neuschafer (6-0, 325). Sophomore Bryan Chavez (5-11, 225) is left guard, while junior Aaron Oyler (6-2, 281) is the center. The right side has Bogner, junior tackle Cody Simmons (5-11, 274) and sophomore end Kyler Henry (6-0, 175).
"Our offensive line has been tremendous, and then Jaylen Pickle at the fullback leading the way as well," Koenig said. "Jaylen is an incredible blocker. ... and Josh has tremendous vision and balance, and he is just a physical runner, and I think that it fits perfectly in our system.
“Yeah, I told him going into the season, 'Don't be surprised if in some games you get 40 carries,' and I thought maybe I was exaggerating, but he's been around 35 a couple of times this year,” Koenig added. “He's physical, and he can handle that, and he kind of wears people out. He takes a lot of pride in finishing runs and falling forward."
Cimarron is minus-4 in turnover margin but has consistently held down running games and had big first quarters. Henry ranks second to Seabolt with six TFLs. As a freshman, he started some at left tackle and linebacker. When Koenig arrived, he asked Henry if he wanted to play linebacker. Koenig envisioned him for as a defensive end.
“He said, ‘Coach, I don’t want to play linebacker, I hated it,’” Koenig said. “I just love the honesty from a kid like that, so we put his hand down and let him rush off the edge and oh my goodness, he is super fast and super strong.”
In Week 1, the Bluejays fell 15-12 to Holcomb. Since '04, Cimarron has lost 12 straight to the Longhorns and the defeat marked the closest margin in the series in the last 11 matchups.
Koenig said the Bluejays were upset they didn't win the game. Cimarron had three interceptions go through defender's hands, including one that happened inside the two-yard line that a Holcomb player caught off a ricochet for a score. The Longhorns won the game with a late touchdown. Cimarron limited Holcomb to just 4.1 yards per carry.
“Definitely our kids knew that we had played with a really good team and had perhaps outplayed them everywhere but on the scoreboard,” Koenig said. “So a lot of confidence there.”
In a Week 4 win against run-heavy Meade, the Bluejays held the Buffs to 25 carries for 74 yards. Additionally, Cimarron led 20-0 in the first quarter against Southwestern Heights last Thursday and held on for a 40-24 win. Pickle didn't play in the contest but Koenig said he would be back Tuesday.
Cimarron has outscored teams 124-20 in the first quarter and only trailed once after the first, 7-0, to Scott City in Week 3.
In Week 5, Cimarron had two offensive changes in the TMP victory. Freshman Tate Seabolt, Josh's brother and son of Cimarron assistant Ashley Seabolt, had 15 carries for 124 yards. He delivered 20 carries for 124 yards in Week 7 versus Lakin, a win that clinched the Hi-Plains League and essentially the district title.
Tate Seabolt now has 57 carries for 408 yards and two scores after he didn't see carries the first two contests. Koenig wanted limit Tate in the first month against a challenging schedule. Senior Irvin Lozoya has played well with 31 carries for 278 yards and two scores.
"That's an awful lot to throw at a freshman coming out of junior high, and to throw him into that kind of competition," Koenig said. "I didn't want to break his spirit. I wanted to make sure that when we did put him on the field, we were going to put him in positions to be successful, so we were kind of running back by committee at the opposite wing.”
“And then he did some really nice things early in the season in J.V. and then in practice, and then when we gave him an opportunity, he really stepped up,” Koenig added.
Because Cimarron was new to the system, Koenig kept the Bluejays limited in sets and plays and huddled up after every play early in the fall. However, Koenig’s best Beloit teams spent a lot of time in no-huddle and tried to get a high volume of snaps. Cimarron practiced quickly and looked to get 50-60 offensive snaps a practice.
Against TMP, the Bluejays went no-huddle and ran a season-high 91 plays, 23 more than any of the first four games, and tallied 24 first-quarter points. Unlike many 3A squads, Cimarron platoons at many positions, and Koenig believes it’s an advantage to run a heavy volume of first-quarter plays to wear teams down. Koenig has a goal for 50 first-half plays.
“It sure appeared to us in a hurry that our kids bought into that,” Koenig said.
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