Minutes after Emporia High ended a quick film study on Monday in preparation for tonight’s football game at Washburn Rural, Spartans co-defensive coordinator Jay Adkins displayed the software that makes such a brief film session possible.
The APEX game film editing system that Adkins and head coach Bill Lowe now use to break down and segment plays is a huge technological aid. Once Lowe and Adkins are done using it to notate plays from a given game — like Rural’s game last week against Shawnee Heights — getting to the plays the Spartans need to watch is a snap.
“We just showed Washburn Rural’s best plays in 15 minutes,” Adkins said. “So we don’t have to show ’em the whole film, and if we stop their best plays, we beat ’em.”
Thanks to more than $15,000 raised from booster club fundraisers and team members’ sales of Spartan Cards, the Emporia High program is now fresher and more up-to-date without the use of any district funds. The editing system, a new end zone camera used to provide a better angle for game film, and new practice jerseys, practice supplies and game day socks are part of an effort to take the football program to the next level.
Commitment to making that happen has come from both the Spartans themselves and the EHS football boosters, who have taken their cues from Lowe’s assessment of what the program needs for success. Booster club president Pete Euler has had conversations with Lowe during his three-plus years at EHS about the relationship the big football programs in the state, like Randy Dreiling’s Hutchinson team, have with their boosters.
“Bill began to identify, ‘Hey, what’s the difference technology-wise?’” Euler said. “... So we kind of set out to raise some extra money to raise those kind of things.”
The results have changed Emporia High’s preparation — not to mention their look — during the week. The $6,500 end zone camera, paid for with the Spartan card sales, provides a better view for game and practice film analysis.
“Especially for linemen,” Lowe said. “Watch their steps, to see their alignment and their steps, and their splits and stuff. I mean, it’s a good angle to watch them from to see what they’re doing.”
The new practice jerseys, supplies and game socks cost about $2,500.
“That’s stuff that is just a supplement, because our budget’s been cut,” Lowe said. “And with the finances being low, it’s nice to have a booster club raising money to help supply some of those things.”
The APEX editing system, a $6,000 investment, may be the most impressive of the new additions. After each game, Lowe uses the software to capture and break down the offensive game film, and Adkins does the same for the defense.
“The computer already chops it up into plays,” Adkins said. “And so, all we have to do is go through and click when it’s offense or defense and all that. If it comes straight off the video camera... it’s like a five-minute thing. You know when you’re on offense and defense, and special teams, and things like that.
“If we get it from a DVD, like we get it from another team, then we’ve gotta mark it as we watch it with a mouse. ... You click ‘X’ for defense, ‘O’ for offense, and you go through and break it up that way.”
Adkins or Lowe can then use a number of different distinguishing criteria to divide the plays up. They can mark a play by formation, down and distance, whether it went to the strong or weak side, and the final outcome of the play. That takes a good amount of time, but once it’s done, it makes film study remarkably quick and easy. The play’s criteria appear above it when it’s displayed on the screen.
“So if we want the kids to see what they ran out of a trips-right gun, we click on that, and it pops the play up,” Adkins said. “And so, we don’t have to spend hours watching film. Instead, we can just do this for 10 minutes, like we just did, and just (play) it whenever we want.”
Lowe said there weren’t any future additions in particular that he’d like to see money raised for soon. But he did say it’d be nice to have a practice field that’s softer or that has turf, citing the other Centennial League schools that already have turf or are installing it.
“I mean, the ground’s so hard. And they play (so many) games... up here on the field,” he said. “I mean, they play all the junior high games, all the freshman and JV games, all the little kids’ games on Saturdays. I just think that it’d be nice to have one field that had some turf on it or something. ... I’m just saying that we’ve got a good situation here, and we’ve got nice things. But there’s always room for improvement, and you’re always striving to be first-class.”
Being first-class for four quarters on Friday nights comes first. Lowe said the Spartans have to get better this year and keep fighting, because people want to support a winner.
“You just find out how important winning is to some people,” he said. “There are certainly so many things in life that are so much bigger than football. But at the time when you play the game, it’s competitive, and it’s important who wins. That’s why they keep score, and they keep records, and they keep league champions.
“I think it just builds on your school morale and builds on the positive atmosphere of the school, whenever teams are winning.”