Heavy is the Head That Wears the Crown: SEM, Six-Man
On that championship night the game turned more into “block” ball than football, much to the delight of the SEM faithful.
It was last November when Sumner-Eddyville-Miller had one of its senior stars, Ryan Arbuthnot, block another PAT, the second of the game, helping to seal the program’s first-ever state football championship, beating Hay Springs 21-20, capping an undefeated 12-0 season.
Which basically answered the many questions about the team in the preseason and early stages of the 2023 campaign.
“We started the year dealing with a lot of injuries, including losing our starting running back for the entire year. Between that and losing five seniors from the year before it took a couple of weeks to try and get everyone in a position that would work best for the team,” says SEM head coach Shane Hrasky. “Our second game of the year was against Stuart and the week after that was (defending state champion) Parkview. Both were a good test for our us and we kind of established who we were as a team.”
Relying on a tough and resilient defense - they do play defense in Six-Man - the Mustangs had it going as they reached their Week 4 bye but the following week they got their only real scare before the state final, rallying to beat Wilcox-Hildreth, 28-22.
“Wilcox-Hildreth played us tough and made us realize how bad things can go wrong if you don’t do the little things right,” credits Coach Hrasky. After locking up their district title and winning their playoff opener the Mustangs faced scary rematches against Stuart and Wilcox-Hildreth but rose to the challenge and then some, winning those games by a combined 51 points to reach the state final against Hay Springs, which walloped defending champion Parkview Christian in the semifinals, scoring 65 points.
“In the championship game we started kind of tight but got things going in the second quarter. Hay Springs running back (senior all-stater Gage Mintken) was probably the best kid we played against all year and at times we had a tough time containing him,” says Coach Hrasky. “In the end it took us playing well in all three phases of the game to win the game, and special teams were especially huge for us.”
SEM was in some ways, some very successful ways, a non-traditional Six-Man team in that the Mustangs featured its running game and stout defense, mostly the product of the best line play in the class. “Our line set the tone all year and everyone bought into our saying that we play as a team, win as a team and things worked out in the end.”
Sure did.
Coach Hrasky credits last year’s leaders Maddox Jones, Greyden Anderson and Cohen Rohde for showing the way for last year’s state title team - and they'll all be back this fall - a role that will also be shared by additional leaders like Emanuel Guido, Chance Daake, Preston Beattie, and Isaac O’Neill. “All of these guys either started or got valuable playing time last year,” adds Coach Hrasky.
In the offseason the Mustangs will keep it simple, hitting the weight room and mixing in a couple of team camps. The team’s makeup will be different - five more seniors graduate - but there is no lessening of expectations.
“I am looking forward to the upcoming season and we will have the same coaching staff again this year, so that is also helpful,” says Coach Hrasky. “I am excited to watch the starters pick up where they left off last year and to see what the young guys can do this year. We will lose another five seniors from last year but we have some boys that should fill in nicely this year.
“I am excited for the 2024 season and hopefully we can make a deep run into the playoffs again.”