Prep Football- The 8-Player scene has changed for the next two years after New London made the move up to Class A, leading to Belle Plaine joining WACO and Winfield-Mt. Union in District 5. The team to beat is still Iowa Valley as they took home the district championship last year, here’s a preview of the upcoming 2025 season.
Iowa Valley
It only seems right to start with the Tigers after putting up an 8-2 record and a flawless conference record before falling in the second round of the postseason to Gladbrook-Reinbeck 57-32.
Nolan Kriegel displayed flashes of superstar ability in his freshman season, but he took it to another level as the sophomore signal caller threw for 1,119 yards and 18 touchdowns, while scrambling for 1,991 yards and 40 touchdowns. Without much objection, he took home All-District Offensive MVP.
Under Kriegel’s command, the offense averaged 60 points per game, including six games of putting up at least 70 points. Only WACO was able to corral the Tigers in district play, holding them to 56 points.
This team was crawling with underclassmen talent as Chance Hoyt was named 1st Team All-District linebacker after leading the team in tackles and Layne Peska earned 1st Team All-District defensive back after nabbing six interceptions, including a pick-six.
Even 5’6 Mason Hoyt earned 1st Team All-District offensive lineman honors after ushering a path for the team to total 3,211 rushing yards at a clip of 8.9 yards per carry.
Still, the Tigers will be without their two leading pass-catchers from last season and 1st Team defensive linemen in Caleb Haack and Ian Smith—combined for six sacks and 39 tackles for loss.
Nevertheless, this team will be looking to capture back-to-back district championship. The one thing that can stop them is a tough schedule to start the year with a matchup against Don Bosco to kick off the season followed by a road matchup against Belle Plaine, one of their two losses last year. If they let those two games get them down, then the rest of the season might be loss.
Player to Watch: Nolan Kriegel
WACO
The Warriors have accrued 38 wins in the last four seasons, which included a runner-up finish in 2022. That was also the last time that they won the district championship, despite having just two combined losses against district opponents in the past two seasons combined.
Consistency has been the key for the Warriors as seniors from last season’s squad had been seeing time on the field since their freshman season. Clayton Miller and Louden Huisenga—just to name some examples—started on both sides of the ball since their junior season.
Non-seniors accumulated only 157 receiving yards and 247 rushing yards for the entire season or just 12% of the offense’s production. Junior Trey Edeker did find paydirt six times during the season on just 23 carries, as the fullback was mostly used as a hammer.
Defense is not much better as the Warriors obviously lose two-time All-District Defensive MVP in Louden Huisenga, but five of the six top tacklers were seniors, and they nabbed 66.7% of the team’s takeaways.
Of course, this is not far off from the transition offensively after the 13-win 2022 season where seniors dominated the stat lines. The Warriors responded by grabbing seven wins the next season and leaning on running the football.
Surprisingly enough, this team will have 24 upperclassmen on the roster.
Hard to imagine that they won’t go back to the similar ideology though; whether you move Edeker to running back or have him stay at fullback to pave the path for Hayden Shelman, who got 32 carries for 122 yards last season and five special teams touchdowns. Especially when both way linemen Adam Stafford and Tyler Rogers return.
Staying on Stafford and Rogers, the juniors combined for 63.5 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and 24.5 tackles for loss on the defensive line, while Edeker led the team with 9 sacks and found 42 tackles for the season.
There’re still questions on certain pieces that must be answered—hard to lose an athlete like Huisenga and not be hurting in some aspect—but the traditional staples for a physical Warrior team are still there. Their identity will just directly contradict what one would expect from 8-player football.
Player to Watch: Hayden Shelman
Winfield-Mt. Union
The 2023 season was special for the Wolves as the team touted two Division I talents on the gridiron. The 2024 squad had some talent as well as two-time All-District Lineman MVP Cooper Buffington being signed by the University of Montana; unfortunately, it just was not enough to offset the talented senior class from the year before.
Offense was the strength of the team as the senior tandem of Jake Edwards and Lane Genkinger led the passing and rushing attacks, respectively, recording 88% of the team’s total yards and 90% of the offensive touchdowns.
The defense lost its intimidation factor from the year prior, going from 36 sacks to three last year. Genkinger and Buffington combined for over half of the team’s tackles for loss. In their four losses, the Wolves surrendered 57 points per game.
One of the positives was interceptions, seven of the opposing team’s passes were nabbed by a non-senior, including pick-sixes from Nicholas Sparrow and Max Edwards. The lanky Edwards will most likely become Cody Milks’s favorite target in the upcoming season.
Milks did not see much action, but did toss four touchdowns on 17 completions for 188 yards in his back-up role. Edwards finished second on the team in receptions with 31, yards with 552, and receiving touchdowns with 7. Edwards also made 42.5 tackles on defense.
The offensive line will have a Buffington sized hole to fill before anything else is figured out.
Player to Watch: Cody Milks
Lone Tree
A year after going 6-3 and claiming a playoff spot, the Lions fell back down to earth and finished last year with a 2-6 record. Those two teams that they were able to best, finished with a collective record of 1-15.
They did show some fight against Easton Valley, Calamus-Wheatland, and Springville, scoring an average of 36 points per game, but the Lions still managed to go 0-3 in those contests, including being outscored 18 to 6 in the fourth quarter against the Orioles.
Unfortunately, the Lions graduated Maddox Jondle as he led the team in rushing with 956 yards, touchdowns with 10 on the ground, threw seven, and received two for a total of 19, and tackles with 65.
The loss of Brody Magruder on defense will also hurt as he totaled 32 tackles, including a team leading 4.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.
Still, Emmett Burke showed some promise to become the new dual-threat quarterback after tossing nine touchdowns and rushing for six more scores for a total of 968 all-purpose yards. They also return Domonic Garcia, who reeled in 33 passes for 11 touchdowns and an interception on defense.
The big question will be depth. The Lions have been dealing with low numbers for the past two seasons and the notion of not having enough players has been creeping closer to reality.
Player to Watch: Emmett Burke
English Valleys
The Bears get to take this spot in the order after they defeated HLV/TC in their head-to-head matchup, 44-26. That was the only victory of the season for the Bears. It was also the only game of the season that English Valleys managed to score more than 22 points in a game.
The Bears would have liked to have their 19-14 loss to Midland back after leading 14 to 13 entering the fourth quarter, but allowing 130 points combined in consecutive weeks against Iowa Valley and Winfield-Mt. Union paints an accurate picture of their season as a whole.
The Bears have the most ground to gain in terms of potential. The squad had only six seniors last year with none of them leading a specific stat. Ben Coffman was a nice battery mate for Drew Fisher in the backfield, rushing for 640 yards and five touchdowns.
Still, Fisher returns under center as the mostly running threat tabbed 646 yards on the ground and six touchdowns. Cael Grove led the team in tackles with 50.5 as the senior looks to continue that defensive pressure.
With experience returning to all sides of the football, expect the Bears to play the potential role of spoiler and at the very least be a tough team to beat.
Player to Watch: Drew Fisher
HLV/TC
Success used to be the name of the game for the Warriors, tallying at least eight wins in six seasons during the 2010s. HLV has won a total of five games since 2021, including their third one-win campaign during this span last season.
The Warriors did show the ability to score points with four games of scoring at least 30 points, including two games of 50 or more points. Defense was their main issue, allowing an average of 55 points per game.
Their fifth game of the season put that on full display as HLV/TC rallied back from a 24 to 14 deficit at halftime to take a 34 to 31 lead at the end of the third quarter before losing to at-the-time undefeated Calamus Wheatland squad 51-50.
An encouraging sight for the Warriors will be the return of not only their starting quarterback in Keegan Gorsh, who flung 20 touchdowns, but their lone First Team All-District player in running back Cael Weisskopf as the sophomore rushed for 657 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Weisskopf also led the squad in tackles and tackles for loss with 78 and 4, respectively. As a cherry on top, he recovered two fumbles, returned a kick for a touchdown, and handled the punting responsibilities.
Now, there’s some holes to fill on defense after graduating Devon Weisskopf, Hunter Bazyn, and Levi Molyneux as those three combined for 132 tackles and three tackles for loss. And the question of the offensive line is still floating around after Gorsh had 47 carries last season for -136 yards and four of their six seniors were offensive/defensive linemen.
Still, the sophomores from last year stepped up and will be eyeing at taking the next leap in their junior campaign.
Player to Watch: Cael Weisskopf
Belle Plaine
The new kids on the block are also, relatively, new to the 8-player game as their first season under the new rules was 2023. Two years before the move, the Plainsmen made it to the postseason despite touting just 22 players on the roster.
After going 4-5 in their first season in 8-player, Belle Plaine roared to a 7-2 season and earned a home playoff game against Bedford, where they fell 18-12 in a game that saw only eight points scored in the second half.
The Plainsmen played two non-district games against their new district opponents, defeating HLV/TC 46-26 and ending Iowa Valley’s undefeated season in week 8 with a 30-24 final.
Belle Plaine likes to keep things on the ground after rushing for 2,453 yards as a team last year at a rip of 7.3 yards per carry, resulting in 46 rushing touchdowns. Compare that to just 618 passing yards on 32 completions, resulting in nine touchdowns to four interceptions.
Most of their production came from senior Ty Alcott as he pounded the dirt for 1,163 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns, while also splitting time at quarterback with junior Aidan Timm. Their main wide receiver, Sam DeMeulenaere, also graduated after reeling in over half of the team’s receiving yards and touchdowns.
Alcott was also a playmaker on defense with 64.5 tackles, which ranked second on the team. Although, defense seems to be where the Plainsmen have the most going in their favor. Wade Sankot, a freshman, led the team in tackles and tackles for loss with nine.
Will Sankot returns as well as he led the team in sacks with three, piling up 8.5 tackles for loss in the process. The non-seniors also captured 9 of the team’s 19 takeaways. The loss of Ty Alcott will make things difficult, but the Plainsmen might have already found their next superstar.
Player to Watch: Wade Sankot
For a full list of the 8-Player schedules: 8-Player Schedules
