To be honest he still looked fresh as a daisy, which was sorta crazy.
I mean the kid had carried the football 65 times in a single game, never looking better than he jammed the last one into the end zone, an exclamation point to his team’s thunderous state championship victory. Kyle Cox, that was some sort of show.
“I didn’t even realize how many carries I had, I was focused on winning the game,” says Kyle, the senior all-state quarterback for defending Class D-2 state champion Sandhills/Thedford, Huskerland’s 2023 player of the year in that class. “When things are working we call the plays in the huddle and the line kept saying ‘run it, run it’ so we ran it. I was a little tired after halftime but the adrenaline kicks in and you just keep pushing forward.”
Pushing forward for a state playoff final record 486 yards on those state playoff final record 65 carries, all part and parcel of his team’s 50-12 win over previously unbeaten Wynot, wrapping up the program’s first-ever state title. Not that the Knights hadn’t been close before, they were state runner-up in 2020 and 2021 with Kyle as a freshman stater on the latter.
“I have been really fortunate to play in as many meaningful games as I have, including two state finals, and that was a lot of fun,” says Kyle. “But right here right now I am more focused on what’s ahead of us, not reflecting on last year’s championship. I want to help my team get another while I can.”
While the state final was a walkover the Knights’ semifinal win against previously unbeaten South Loup was not. But it was familiar. The teams had met earlier in the season with South Loup winning a 48-34 decision back in Week 4 but on this November night the Knights roared back from a two-touchdown deficit to claim a 38-28 victory and another state championship berth. Which brings us to the familiar part.
“Back when we were in sixth grade we played South Loup for the championship and were behind two touchdowns but came back to win,” Kyle reminds you. How about that...
There probably wasn’t the crowd for the sixth-grade game there was for last year’s semifinal at Dunning, where the place was crawling with fans from all over the region, state really. The game was great, the atmosphere almost better remembers Kyle. “You want to concentrate on the game but the place was so packed and so loud once and a while you had to look around and just take it all in. It was a great night, a really fun night, and I am glad we won.”
Kyle has always played quarterback for his teams growing up but that wasn’t his dream, playing either running back or wide receiver, that was where it was at in his mind. “I would rather run it or catch it but if helps the team I will do whatever it takes,” he adds.
Good thing because this quarterback thing is working out. In his team’s 2023 state championship season Kyle put up some mind bending numbers that included 2,900 yards rushing and 55 (55!) touchdowns, adding 970 yards passing and 11 TDs, even catching eight passes for 188 yards and four TDs. And that’s just on offense. He was also probably the best safety in eight-man, finishing last season with 112 tackles including five for loss, six interceptions and a fumble return for a touchdown. Oh, and he is the team’s punter, when they actually do punt.
All of this after the Sandhills/Thedford program was rocked by a midseason coaching change in 2022 and when the dust settled the new head coach was, well, Kyle’s dad. You know, former Sandhills star Tyson Cox, and it was an adjustment for both QB1 and HC1.
“We talk football all the time and I am not going to say there aren’t disagreements but I wouldn’t want to be coached by anybody else,” says Kyle of his father/head coach. “He has always told me to be tough and he has made me the player that I am.”
Which is pretty good work there, Coach Cox.
Kyle was born in Kearney and lived on the family ranch northeast of Purdum (um, basically 90 miles north of North Platte). “Ranch life can be tough, it’s hard work but it pays off developing the kind of mindset that carries over to football,” says Kyle. He has his own Black Angus cattle herd and his younger sister is some sort of superstar barrel racer, about to enter her sophomore year at STHS. Kyle likes to get to the river when he can or drive around with friends when they come to town with steak and potatoes his favorite meal.
Kyle is also an outstanding classroom student, holding down a 3.9 GPA, and he will become a four-year starter in basketball this winter. He’s dabbled with FBLA in high school but in eighth grade he was a dominant force in that club, actually earning a trip to the national competition in business and finance (hello, Tampa!) before COVID spoiled all the fun. He wears No. 5 for football because, as he says, there’s never been a great No. 5 in the program and he wanted to make it famous. Well, that also worked out.
As for college, he does want to play football - Chadron kinda caught his eye - and he’s considering becoming an airline pilot like one of his uncles. Figures, given the heights he’s risen to in high school football...
“The expectations for our team are very high this year and there are going to be people coming for us, but we are going to come right back at them. We want that (championship) feeling again.”
