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One of the more decorated football teams in Creston/Orient-Macksburg history congregated Sunday to celebrate the 2016 season, as well as the end of a career for 19 seniors.
Players, coaches and family members filled the cafeteria directly inside of the Creston High School entrance.
“In our high school program, be it freshmen through seniors, you guys (parents and family) put a lot of time in with your kids and it definitely shows,” Creston/O-M head coach Brian Morrison said.
Despite a few members of this year’s Panther squad being unable to attend, a large majority of the near 80-strong on the team and coaching staff attended.
Morrison spoke in front of a crowded room, in what will be possibly the last time that this many of this group are all together at once. The bitterness of that realization always pervades end of the year celebrations, no matter how aloof most participants of a sport may seem.
“The thing starts, it’s almost year-round,” Morrison said. “We really get going at the Northwest team camp. We carry it through the summer with our Tuesday workouts and lifting and the season is almost three months, so you put a ton of time into the weekends, which affects the families.”
These seniors, as sophomores, brought the program its first trip to the UNI-Dome. This program has continued a streak that now stretches to six consecutive years of making the playoffs.
One of the keys to this group’s success, has been this group of seniors’ bond that has kept them together.
“This group has stayed together from the get-go,” Morrison said.
The Panthers put eight athletes on the all-district first team for Class 3A District 7.
They also put five on the second team and two among the honorable mention (see page 5 for more info on all-district team).
Morrison presented awards for plenty of accomplishments and ended the evening with awards for superlatives. Chase Shiltz, Kadon Hulett, Brody Frain and Colton Bolinger were chosen as captains for the beginning of the year and were also chosen at the end of year as the most important leaders on the team.
Assistant coach Kevin Cooper spoke on behalf of the freshmen and junior varsity teams.
The junior varsity team finished with a record of 2-6.
“Some of them are going to help us (varsity) next year, some of them are going to help us in two years. Good group of kids, they’ve been awesome to coach this year,” Cooper said.
The Freshman squad finished 6-1 on the season.
“When we first started the year… they had more than 17. They had kids that were starters that quit, they had kids that could have helped them that quit. These 17 kids are the kids that were committed to the program all year long,” Cooper said.
“We asked a lot of the freshmen this year and they stepped up.”
Morrison expressed excitement about the numbers coming up in the junior high program. A total of 71 participated this fall, 38 in eighth, 33 in seventh. He claimed there was no reason to expect not to maintain those type of numbers.
Should that be the case, the soon-to-be incoming freshmen have paid witness to one of the best groups to follow in Creston/Orient-Macksburg football history.
Varsity letter winners
Seniors — Colton Bolinger (3), Zach Carlson (1), Cody Crawford (3), Keaton Eslinger (3, Brody Frain (3), Will Gordon (3), Matthew Hoffman (3), Kadon Hulett (3), Jackson Mikkelsen (3), Tyler Peters (3), Devon Peterson (3), Quinton Scadden (3), Chase Shiltz (3), Michael Stults (3), Cody Tanner (3), Seth Thompson (3), Kaden Wilson (3), Gavin Woods (3), Travontay Wright (2).
Juniors —Dalten Bierle (2), Stephen Buckman (2), Garrett Dahl (2), Trevor Downing (3), Tucker Flynn (2), Cole Higgins (2), Evan Jacobson (2), Mason Kinsella (2), Dustin Merritt (3), Nathan Pudenz (2), Michael Scherer (1), Blake Sevier (2), Mitchel Swank (3), Kolby Tomas (3), Cody Wagner (2), Cashton Weeks (2).
Sophomores — Dale Boyer (2), Jade Conley (1), Kendall Crawford (1), Bryce Fitzgerald (1), Trevor Kinyon (1), Hank Looney (1), James McDonald (1), Austin Nguyen (1), Walker Patterson (1), Kylan Smallwood (1), Amos Tanner (1),Tristan Travis (1), Mark Waigand (1).
Freshmen — Eli Loudon (1), Rylan Luther (1).
Participation — Armando Banda, Kyle Blackburn, Sam Chapman, Brayton Chestnut, Ayden Filer, Gavin Gillam, Hayden Green, Eli Hartman, Spencer Lane, Luke Latham, Brant Looney, Andy Mills, Camden Peterson.
Superlatives
Bierle earned an award for his eagerness to play, Merritt earned an award for his hustle on special teams, Bolinger earned one for his punting, Jacobson got one for his kicking, Carlson one for his defensive play, Hulett won defensive MVP and Shiltz took offensive MVP.
District All-Academic
Colton Bolinger
Keaton Eslinger
Brody Frain
Kadon Hulett
Statistical leaders
Passing Yards — Kylan Smallwood 797.
Rushing Yards — Chase Shiltz 1,537; Smallwood 556; Zach Carlson 496; Mitchel Swank 412.
Receptions-Yards — Carlson 15-429; Shiltz 12-158; Gavin Woods 7-167; Jackson Mikkelsen 5-45; Crawford 4-60.
Scoring — Shiltz 182, Carlson 60, Jacobson 53, Smallwood 42
Tackles (Total) — Dale Boyer 51.5; Carlson 46.5; Hulett 38.5, Shiltz 33.5; Swank 31.5; Kolby Tomas 29.5; Blake Sevier 25.5; Michael Stults 25.5; Mikkelsen 25; Smallwood 22; Bolinger 18; Jacbson 17; Merritt 13.5; Kaden Wilson 13.5.
Interceptions — Smallwood 3; Shiltz 3; Jacobson 3; Crawford 1; Carlson 1; Swank 1; Stults 1; Dahl 1.
Fumble Recoveries — Jacobson 3; Hulett 2; Carlson 1; Tomas 1; Shiltz 1; Merritt 1; Boyer 1; Stults 1; Dalten Bierle 1.
PAT Kicking — Jacobson 47-53 (88.7%)
Punts (yards per punt) — Bolinger 27- 39.3
Kickoff/Punt Return Yards — Carlson 377; Shiltz 217; Jacobson 129; Travontay Wright 95.