Winless season for Kimball Football but things will change

With a 53-6 loss at Valentine in their final football game of the season, the Kimball High Longhorns finished out a winless season, but there are big changes ahead for the Horns as they turn to 8-man football next year.

A quick summary of the few highlights of the loss at Valentine includes the lone TD which came on a 20 yard pass completion from Izaac Reuter to Zane Anthony in the 2nd period. The hosting Badgers dominated the contest, as expected, as they entered the contest ranked number 7 in the Class C2 state rankings and moved into the state playoff and won their first round game.

Kimball finished with only 87 yards of offense with 55 yards through the air and 32 yards rushing. Reuter was 9 of 16 passing for 49 yards and the touchdown but also had 3 intercepts. Brendan Walker was 2 of 3 but also had an interception. Zane Anthony had 3 catches for 39 yards and the TD. Kole Bush had 3 receptions for 16 yards. Kimball’s top rusher was freshman Ethan Ratzlaff with 59 yards on 12 carries. Andrew McCloud led the tackle charts with 4 solo tackles and 2 assists with a tackle for yardage loss. Reuter was 3 and 1 with a tackle for loss yardage, and Bush was also 3 and 1. Colton Mielke was 2 and 2.

In looking back over the 0 and 9 season, the Horns will graduate 6 seniors off this year’s roster, but they will return a good share of the skill players who could really fit in well with the fast 8-man game. The top 3 rushers are back, including, Jake Jenkins who finished with 300 yards and 4 touchdowns, Colton Mielke with 276 yards and 1 TD, and Ethan Ratzlaff with 137 yards.

In the passing game, they have quarterback Izaac Retuer back and he completed 66 passes on 139 attempts for 557 yards and 3 touchdowns and was just shy of 50% on his attempts. When Reuter sat out with injuries, Colton Mielke stepped in and did a good job and sophomore Brendan Walker also gained some good experience and is a quality athlete. Zane Anthony will return for his senior year as the top receiver with 33 receptions for 379 yards and 4 touchdowns. Mielke is back after a year with 14 catches for 113 yards and a total of 9 players will return who had catches this past season. The passing game should be even stronger and better next season.

The Horns only scored 66 points this year while giving up 385 but 4 of the 5 Kimball players who scored return. The main kick and punt return people are back and they will have a solid punter returning after freshman Christian Allen-VanPelt stepped in and did a good job this year.

The biggest loss via graduation is in the line with Andrew McCloud, Paycen Harroun, and Jaden Mohr departing, but they have standouts Corey Travis and Ethan Greenwood back, along with the injured Luis Portillo, and Stephan Bateman, both with good size, and sophomore Beau Hanks at an end position. Anthony and Travis finished in the number 1 and 2 spots in the tackle charts and both return. Ratzlaff was the 4th player in tackles as a freshman and Greenwood and Mielke along with Reuter finished in the top ten.

If you look only at the win-loss column, this was not a good season at all for the Horns, but if your look at how hard this year’s kids played and the effort they gave against opponents with more depth and with highly respected teams, you have a different view point, especially to take into the new era of 8-man football which begins in 2018. Look for the Horns to hold their own when they take to the field a year from now.