In high school football, with the right guy at the helm, instant gratification can happen. Coaches with a long history of success can produce immediate results when they move to a new school and accept a new challenge. Chip Sherman has done just that in his first year at Salina South.
A year ago, South was an unCougar-like 2-7 in Ken Stonebraker’s final season. Enter Sherman, who won three state titles and posted 20 consecutive winning seasons at Missouri’s Platte County High School. Now, Salina South is 6-2, and if the Cougars can beat Emporia High on Friday at Welch Stadium — or lose by less than five points — they’ll be Class 5A District 5 champions. Long climb, short time.
“It’s funny — this is my 29th year, and I’ve done this a long time,” Sherman said. “And sometimes, the difference between winning and losing is just a fraction of an inch. It’s so strange. You’re dealing with kids — you’re dealing with 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids, and they’re interesting creatures, they really are. But I would say it’s a matter of attitude.”
The attitude has been there for the Cougars, and as a result, Emporia High has a tough opponent standing between it and a trip to the state playoffs. A win gets the Spartans in, and a five-point win earns them a district championship. The only way EHS gets into the playoffs with a loss is if Topeka West pulls a highly unlikely upset of Salina Central in the other district finale.
Scouting Emporia
The 31-28 loss at Salina Central last Friday may not have been as demoralizing as the Spartans’ less competitive losses to Hayden and Junction City earlier this year, but it was a major missed opportunity. A win would have clinched a playoff spot, and the Spartans held every lead in the game right up until Eric Berner’s 30-yard field goal with six seconds left.
“Our biggest concern right now is getting our heads back up and getting remotivated,” Emporia coach Bill Lowe said. “It took a lot out of us the other night — that was a tough loss. The biggest challenge now is trying to bounce back, just get our heads up and get going again.”
Lowe’s concerns from last week include that the Spartans were the less physical team for the first time since the loss to Junction, and that they gave up big plays in the passing game. Central’s Cale Sharp tore up the suspect Spartan run defense for 118 yards, and receiver Seth Myers burned EHS for a 65-yard touchdown and two other big second-half catches.
“They hurt us with some big pass plays, and South throws the ball really well,” Lowe said. “It’ll be another big challenge for us in the passing game.”
The Central loss was also the first game in five weeks that the Spartans didn’t have a 100-yard rusher. During its four-game winning streak, EHS had grown accustomed to performances like fullback Mark Kolmer’s 208-yard effort at Manhattan or slotback Corey Bacon’s 156-yard game against Topeka West. Kolmer led the Spartans with 80 yards on 21 carries against Central, coming alive in the second half after being shut down in the first. Taylor Euler had 74 yards rushing, and Bacon had 64, with 44 coming in the first half. Kolmer leads EHS for the season with 722 yards.
“We’ve gotta take care of the ball, which we did Friday, and we’ve gotta eliminate our penalties,” Lowe said.
Scouting Salina South
The game’s biggest wildcard is the health of South starting running back Tanner Vinson, who missed last week’s 38-14 win over Topeka West with a sprained ankle suffered the previous week. Sherman said Wednesday that the Cougars didn’t yet know what Vinson’s status would be.
“He’s been practicing, but we don’t know if he’s gonna be full go or not,” Sherman said. “We’ll just have to see.”
In his absence, Xavier Lewis and Antoine Brathwaite would split South’s carries out of the backfield. Brathwaite hadn’t gotten many carries before last week’s game at Topeka West, but he ran for 137 yards on 15 runs. Fullback Brian Taylor will also get some carries.
Quarterback Michael Stratton is a threat both with both his arm and legs. In South’s 21-14 win over Salina Central two weeks ago, he ran for 83 yards and passed for 139. Stratton ran for 183 yards and passed for 168 when the Cougars nearly beat Derby, blowing a big fourth-quarter lead and losing 43-42. Wide receiver Nick Neuburger had a big game on both offense and defense against Topeka West; he had touchdown catches of eight and 55 yards, and while filling in for Vinson at free safety, he had two fumble recoveries and an interception return for a touchdown. The Cougars’ most key defenders include lineman Kenny Holmes, linebacker Cody Williams, Lewis at strong safety and Mitch Vest at cornerback.
South has a much better chance of making the playoffs with a loss than Emporia does if it loses. The Cougars are at plus-20 in the points column, Emporia is at plus-10 and Salina Central is at minus-4. South holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Central. So if the Cougars lose by 11 points or less, Salina Central can’t beat them in a points tiebreaker by picking up the maximum 13 points against Topeka West. But if Emporia beats South by 12 or more, and Central gets the expected 13-point boost against West, than Central jumps over South for the second playoff spot.
“Emporia’s a good football team, and I think Emporia and us and Central are about as close and even as we’re gonna find three teams in a district,” Sherman said. “I mean, really, they’re just three pretty good football teams, and I think we’re all pretty close. It’s just a matter of who gets the breaks that night.”
lurker75 (anonymous) says...
Wow. It's almost as if this came from the Salina paper or something. I thought the local paper was supposed to have the back of the local team. Last few years have been really above par with the coverage. I don't think, honestly, anybody around here really cares about coach Sherman's success at Platte County High School in Missouri. Quickly, a raise of the hands on who knows where that is, or even what part of Missouri it is. How about the classification? Me neither. More importantly, nor do I care.
Sounds like Emporia is over matched, what with their average, never turned any program around coach, Bill Lowe. Good grief.
Go get 'em boys.
October 30, 2008 at 7:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
InfoMan (anonymous) says...
Yes, I do think people want to hear about the opposing team.
And it's not a paper's job to have "the back" of the local team.
I enjoy learning about the opposition's players and coaches. I like finding out things I don't already know. I don't need to live in a bubble.
And, geez, it was like 2 or 3 whole paragraphs.
If you don't like the story, feel free to NOT cut it out and put it in your little scrapbook.
October 30, 2008 at 7:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lurker75 (anonymous) says...
LoL......
"Win by 12 and Salina Central is in.
Soooo, if you're going to win, make it a romp.
The Mustangs thank you."
And............
"Taylor Counts broke his hand and plays linebacker; he hasn't run the ball since the second week of the season"
We can tell you aren't an Emporia fan, and that's fine. I was just making a point that if there was a story line, you'd think the local paper would fine one that revolves around the local team. Don't you think that makes sense?
October 30, 2008 at 9:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
InfoMan (anonymous) says...
Go to the Salina Journal (www.stinkycoverage.com) and read what they wrote.
It's crap every single week. A couple coaches quotes, rarely mentions players names and tells you NOTHING about the opponent.
That's why I try to read other papers, to learn about South's and Central's opposition.
Trust me, compared to many other papers, you guys are in high school heaven.
I don't think these pregame stories actually have a story line, they're more like scouting reports.
FYI - I heard Tanner Vinson is not playing tonight. You won't read THAT in the Journal either.
October 31, 2008 at 7:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )