Kee football team plays to 3-6 season record

The 2016 Kee football season played out to a 3-6 overall record, but 10 points or less in four of those losses would have made for a much different result for this season. All three of those Kee victories this season came in the Hawks’ Eight-Player District 3, where Kee ended up in fourth place in the final seven-team standings with a 3-3 record against District 3 foes.

“I thought we continued to grow as the season went on,” Kee football coach Chad Winters said. “We lost some games throughout the year that we could have won if we would have taken care of the ball a little better. We were playing our best ball at the end of the year, which as a coach is always what you want to see. It was a season where you wish we still had the four teams (from each district) qualify for the postseason instead of just the top two teams. Our team would have looked forward to the challenge of facing a district champion in the first round and wouldn’t have been intimidated by that situation. We proved throughout the year that when we eliminated our mistakes and valued the ball we could play with some of the best teams in the state. I think that experience will help us greatly at the start of next season.”

One of those narrow, single-digit losses came to the eventual District 3 champion, Central Elkader, in a 60-52 battle down to the final moments. That game also followed another strong early battle the Hawks gave District runner-up and another top-10 Eight-Player squad, Don Bosco, that was eventually, literally, turned over to the perennial power Dons.

It was, indeed, turnovers that played a large role in the Hawks’ final outcome of the season, a fact well noted by Coach Winters and his squad. Kee ended up on the short end of a 27-18 turnover margin this season that yielded an average of three of those miscues per game, including an 18-7 deficit in fumbles lost.

“Our taking care of the ball was what set us back the most during the course of the year,” Coach Winters said. “It took away the opportunity to win another four games that we tightly contested. We make it a point of emphasis, but it still continued to happen. We will have to go back and assess some of the things we are doing and teaching and see what, if anything, needs to be changed.”

Aside from what Coach Winters saw as his team’s greatest challenge, one of the greater highlights of this 2016 season was the 1,000-yard rushing achievement racked up by senior runningback Clay Olson. His total of 1,007 yards on the season accounted for more than half the Hawk rushing total, with fellow senior runningback Casey Carroll and junior quarterback Tucker Colsch nearly equally splitting a majority of that remaining Kee ground total with 459 and 436 yards, respectively.

With Tucker Colsch set to return for his third season at the helm of the Kee offense with his team-high 705 yards and 10 touchdowns through the air, his favorite target, fellow junior Eric Rud, is also on task to return with his team-high 288 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions. Carroll hauled in 219 yards and three touchdowns through the air, with senior Tyler Reinhart adding another 151 yards and four touchdowns on the receiving end of the Hawk offense.

Carroll’s team-high 87.5 tackles and Olson’s 53.5 defensive halts accounted for two of the Hawks’ top three defensive totals, with Tucker Colsch finishing between those two with 65.5 stops. Rud will also bring back his team-high six quarterback sacks and 11 tackles for loss to help anchor Kee’s defensive effort next season. Senior Jon Mooney joined junior Brock Flack in adding another 6.5 tackles for loss each to the Hawk defensive total.

This season’s overall statistical numbers show a fairly good balance of returning statistical pacesetting that will help counter the loss of the abundance of veteran leadership that will graduate with this season’s eight seniors. Carroll, Brock Colsch, A.J. Gagner, Mooney, Olson, Reinhart, Cody Rosendahl and Jacob Walleser each played their final games in a Kee football uniform with completion of this season.

“The eight seniors that competed this year are going to be hard to replace,” Coach Winters said. “Quite a few of them have been multi-year letterwinners and two-way starters. We will have to have kids step up and replace our backfield on offense and our linebacking core on defense, along with some specialists.”

For their efforts on the field this season, Carroll and Olson were each named to the District 3 All-District First Team as a linebacker and runningback, respectively, with Tucker Colsch joining them as a First Team selection as a defensive back. Flack and fellow junior Noah Spearbecker were each named to the All-District Second Team as a linebacker and offensive lineman, respectively, with Mooney and Rud each receiving All-District Honorable Mention as well.

Even though there will be a return of considerable leadership and statistical contributions in this season’s underclassmen groups, Coach Winters wants his squad to realize that anything that was accomplished this season doesn’t necessarily guarantee the same future success. The fourth-year head coach notes there are plenty of opportunities available to all of his returning charges for improving themselves, but those opportunities have to be taken advantage of.

“We need guys that totally commit themselves to the weightroom and are participants in other sports, especially track,” Coach Winters said. “If they want to consistently compete for play-off bids, they will make that commitment. I believe the more you can have kids fighting through adversity and competing in intense situations can only help an athletic program overall.”