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Memories Rekindled At Banquet PDF Print E-mail
Sports
Written by David Wolman   
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 08:00
Osawatomie cross country coach Amber Campbell did her best to hold back the tears. 

Three months ago, Osawatomie athletes met outside of the school’s gymnasium for their first practice. Now, more than two weeks after the season’s conclusion,  the emotions were hard to contain.

Campbell had to give one final goodbye to her six seniors at the school’s annual fall sports banquet Nov. 10. She also had to come to grips with the fact that cross country is over for now.

“I can’t believe that another season has passed so quickly,” she told the audience.

Each of the fall sports head coaches — Campbell, Emily Mader (volleyball) and Clint Bailey (football) — highlighted their teams’ performances and thanked their players and coaching staffs for their hard work and sacrifices.
Campbell spent time talking about each athlete’s accomplishments, starting with the personal records each one of her girls set.

“The girls did a great job of pushing themselves,” she said.

As for the boys’ team, she spoke about having to field a new team after losing a large senior class to graduation last May. Brendan Soucie, Michael Del Valle, Luke Billingsley and Dustin Kueser were the only boy returners. Grant Maimer, Keenan Tate, Cody Applegarth and Shay Neal were the newcomers.

Campbell then touched on the success of all her runners, including her two state qualifiers: Soucie and Kueser. Soucie became the third Trojan to medal at the Class 4A state meet, placing 18th. Kueser was 35th.

“Both of them could’ve sat back and taken it all and relaxed or taken it by storm,” Campbell said. “Both went to Bonner Springs, the same course as our regional, in September and placed (Soucie ninth and Kueser 13th). A lot of runners at that meet were going to be in our own regional.”

First-year volleyball coach Emily Mader was next up.

The success of the freshman and junior varsity teams were the first topics she touched on. The freshman went 13-1 in league play, while the JV team was 14-14 overall and 7-2 in league play, finishing second among six league teams.

“We had a lot of athletic talent and had to give up several players throughout the year (to the junior varsity and varsity teams),” Mader said.

Previously serving as the freshman coach, Mader went 8-22 in her first season as varsity coach, although she said her team performed better than its record.
“I thought our record doesn’t indicate the season we had,” she said. “We played just as well as half of the teams, but didn’t get enough points.”

Mader also took the time to thank her assistant coaches, Jennifer Waggoner and Jodie Beets, for stepping in when she was on maternity leave.
“It was a wonderful first year,” Mader said.

Bailey was the final coach to step up to the podium. He opened his remarks by thanking his assistant coaches — Dave French, Troy Bomgardner and Chad Jones — for their time and hard work.

The success of the junior varsity team, which went 4-3, was his next topic.

“They did a good job,” he said. “They played some tough teams. I saw some good things offensively and defensively. I’m counting on them to step up to the next level next year.”

The varsity team experienced a big turnaround. After going 3-6 a year ago, the Trojans went 7-2 this year and claimed the outright Pioneer League title. Experience was a big reason why, as they returned nine starters on each side of the ball.

“It was a good year for us,” Bailey said. “There were some exciting games for us.”

Fans certainly got their money’s worth.

Osawatomie rallied from a two-touchdown deficit in the season opener to defeat Anderson County. The winning score came on a Brandon Oakes reception in the game’s final minute, capping off a 99-yard drive. The next week, Osawatomie took advantage of a punt that sailed over the head of Tonganoxie’s punter in the final minute to pull out a miracle victory.

“We didn’t have a lot of hope,” Bailey said. “We needed a miracle.”

A miracle was delivered.

Three weeks later, Osawatomie defeated Wellsville in double overtime when junior linebacker Andy French made a goal-line tackle to preserve the win.
Osawatomie saw better production from its defense in the second half of the season as they pitched three shutouts in their final six games.

“It says a lot about our defense,” Bailey said. “It wasn’t our strongest point.”

Bailey, who just concluded his fourth season as Trojans head coach, ended his speech by thanking the five players who have been with the program each of his first four years — Dylon Needham, Jameson Greenwood, Ryan Warner, Tanner Surber and Daine Needham.
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