Kee football team plays to second consecutive season with 5-4 overall record and State Play-Off qualification
The Kee football team played its way to a 5-4 season record for its 2024 campaign, qualifying for the Eight-Player State Play-Offs for the second consecutive season as the third-place team in the final District 3 standings behind the two District 3 teams to beat the Hawks, Don Bosco and Riceville. Even though that 5-4 mark is just above average, the teams responsible for those four losses were all well above average in playing to a 30-2 combined record during their regular season schedules, and each won at least one State Play-Off game, including a Gladbrook-Reinbeck team that ended
Kee’s grid campaign in the opening round of those Play-Offs on the way to finishing as this year’s Eight-Player State Runner-Up this past weekend.
“We always have the goal of qualifying for the play-offs, which we were once again able to do,” Kee football coach Chad Winters explained. “We had hoped to put ourselves in a little bit better position heading into the play-offs, but we were unable to do so. That meant a long bus trip in week one of the play-offs to a district champion that played its way to the finals. All four of the losses on the season were to teams that won play-off games. For the boys to see that type of competition during the season, they are able to see what it will take to achieve postseason success.”
As it more easily can in the game of eight-player football, the injury bug took a bite out of the possibility of this season’s efforts producing a much greater result. Three key players suffered injuries to the extent of missing multiple games this fall, including an early-season injury that took junior returning All-District Honorable Mention lineman Sam Janzen out of this year’s line-up.
“Some injuries were tough for us to overcome,” Coach Winters explained. “Losing a kid like Sam before the regular season even started was a huge blow. You’re talking about an All-District caliber lineman that took his lumps last year as a sophomore and dedicated himself during the off-season to making himself physically ready. We really missed his physicality during the course of the season on both sides of the ball.”
A couple of underclassman skill players traded missing ends of this season. Another pre-season mishap took junior Zach Goetzinger out of the early-season mix, while sophomore Tanner Troendle was sidelined for the latter portion of the season.
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