Raiders' Men in Black Begin their Season on Thursday, August 30th
Homecoming Set for Saturday, September 22nd against Giltner
Launch the media gallery 1 playerHead football coach Brian Blevins is looking forward to the 2018 season. The 2017 season ended with the L/N Raiders going further into the Playoffs than they had for a number of years and ending the season with a record of 8-3. The previous two seasons the records were 8-2. Information below was taken from the Lawrence/Nelson Locomotive/Gazette's August 23rd issue.
Launch the media gallery 2 playerNinth year coach, Brian Blevins, noted that all of the senior class members are returning players and several junior class members as well. Jake Sharp, Lane Heikkinen, Kyle Golay, and Boone Svoboda are returning All-District, D2-7 team members. Injuries could play a part in the success of the 2018 season. The Raiders are playing in Class D-2 and their numbers are fewer than 6 of the other teams in their District this season.
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Launch the media gallery 3 playerEven though it's a new season, with new players, the past is not easily forgotten. Each Raider team builds on previous teams. The Raiders' schedule has changed considerably from last season. The NSAA dumped five teams that played last season and replaced them with five new teams, four of which dropped down from Class D-1. Gone are Sterling, Exeter-Milligan, Friend, Shelton, and BDS. New teams are Falls City Sacred Heart, Diller-O'Dell, Johnson Brock, Kenesaw, and Franklin. The Raiders will, however, continue their history of playing good teams. Blue Hill was 12-1 last year; Falls City Sacred Heart was 10-2, Kenesaw 9-1, Diller-O'Dell was 7-3, Johnson Brock was 6-5, and Giltner was 6-4. Axtell and Franklin both had losing seasons in 2017.
Six of the Raiders' opponents made the Playoffs in 2017, and had a combined record of 11-6 in those playoff games. The first few games of the season are going to be tough games: starting on the road against Falls City Sacred Heart on Thursday, August 30th. FCSH is described as a "powerhouse" and is predicted to be one of the more interesting games this year. Why a Thursday night game to start the year? Because the NSAA scheduled both Sacred Heart and Falls City Public Schools to play home games on the 31st. The public school controls the field, and chooses which team will play when; therefore, the parochial school had to change their game time to Thursday night. Even Homecoming this year will not be on the traditional Friday night. Instead, we will host Giltner on Saturday, September 22nd, in Lawrence, which just so happens to be the same night that Coach Blevins and his wife will be receiving the Hastings College Alumni Coaches of the Year award at Hastings College. Read more on this at: https://www.hastings.edu/news/area-couple-named-outstanding-hastings-college-alumni-coaches.
As for the season and a look ahead:
- Thurs., Aug. 30th: at Falls City Sacred Heart
- Fri., Sep. 7th: Diller-O'Dell
- Fri., Sep. 14th: at Johnson Brock
- SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND: Homecoming v. Giltner in Lawrence
- Fri., Sep. 28th: at Kenesaw
- Fri., Oct. 5th: Blue Hill
- Fri., Oct. 12th: Axtell
- Thurs., Oct. 18th: at Franklin.
And then Men in Black for 2018 include:
- Seniors: Brody Himmelberg, Jake Sharp, Lane Heikkinen, Kaden Thompson, and Boone Svoboda
- Juniors: Kyle Golay, Trevin Kotinek, Cody Buescher, Coy Ceder
- Sophomores: Blake Wroughton, Keith Miller, Blake Janda, Darren Kathman, Trevor Biltoft, Connor Cannaday, Konnor Thompson, Peyton Mazour
- Freshman: Wyatt Brockman.