Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Emporia High junior-to-be Jacob Loucks (25) runs the ball during a drill at the the ESU Team Football Camp on Monday.
The calendar might say the football season doesn’t begin until late August or early September, but don’t tell that to the members of the Emporia High football team.
The Spartans got a kick-start on the 2008 football season on Monday when they put on their uniforms and donned pads and shorts for the first day of the Emporia State football camp — which is put on by the ESU coaching staff.
“This is exactly where it starts,” said senior-to-be Josh Maguire, a returning starter at defensive back for EHS. “It all starts here. Everybody’s already pumped and everybody’s getting jacked about the season, but this is where it begins.”
EHS is one of four “big” schools participating in the camp, as Topeka West, Wichita North and Shawnee Mission Northwest also sent their teams and coaching staffs to the two-day event.
The four larger schools mainly will scrimmage each other, but no matter the size of the school or the athletes playing the game, the goal is always the same when it comes to summer camps.
“It’s just fun to come out and play a little football during the summer,” EHS coach Bill Lowe said. “We’re just looking to see who can play and what young kids can step up and who can hit and run.”
Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Emporia High football coach Bill Lowe encourages his team during the ESU Team Football Camp on Monday.
The enthusiasm within the EHS ranks is noticeably high this summer in anticipation of the upcoming football season, and rightfully so. The Spartans are coming off a 6-4 record last season and made their first State playoff appearance since 2002 when they faced Wichita Southeast in the first round.
Though EHS lost to Southeast, 42-34, at Welch Stadium, the trip to the playoffs only fueled a thirst for more from the players.
“We expect to get further into the playoffs,” Maguire said. “The last two years, we’ve made it a little bit further. Every year, it’s about a State championship and making it to State.”
It helps that the Spartans return several crucial components from last year’s squad.
Back on offense are quarterback Taylor Euler and running back Mark Kolmer, as well as wide receiver/tailback Corey Bacon and offensive linemen Danny Goodman and T.J. Heins. On defense, Maguire, Sheldon Patton (linebacker) and Cord Stanley (defensive end), as well as Kolmer (linebacker), form a solid nucleus to build off of.
And that’s where camps like the one at ESU come in most handy. With the core of the team in place, those players looking to step into starting roles can begin to prove themselves, while the coaches can go about evaluating talent at the open spots to help fill holes or create competition.
Not to mention it gives the players the chance to get on the field and just play football.
Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Emporia High's offensive line gets set to run a play during the ESU Team Football Camp on Monday.
“It’s such a long break from the end of the season until now, everybody’s just so hungry to get out here and play — everybody can just have fun, sweat a little bit, hit some people,” said Euler, who will return for his senior season as a three-year starter at quarterback. “You kind of start to figure out the depth chart a little bit. If you didn’t go to a camp like this, you’d have a lot of questions.
“We come in not knowing what the year’s going to look like, and by the end of the camp, we have a little bit of a picture of what we might look like once the season gets here.”
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