Football preview: Kelly Hawks ready to take off after two seasons of JV flight lessons

BENTON, Mo. -- Texas native Kenneth Riedinger remembers one of his first impressions when he was checking out his new home of Benton at its annual celebration.

"I went to Neighbor Days when I first got here, and nobody knew who I was and I was walking around, and there were all these big, tall guys, and I thought, "Good. Good, good, good, good, good," Riedinger said.

Riedinger was the new football coach at Kelly High School, and a curiosity piece himself as the school's first person to hold that title.

The Scott County R-IV school district had approved the startup of football in the spring of 2010 after more than 700 signatures were collected on a petition. It was a surprising foray for a high school that has been in existence since 1957.

Riedinger was hired in 2011, and with plenty of help from his new neighbors, built both a football field and a football program.

It's been baby steps for the program, which Riedinger first nursed with a year of instruction before two years of JV football, which commenced in 2012.

Two years and 16 games of JV learning have passed. The tally: eight wins, eight losses and countless lessons.

It's been a slow but prudent process for all involved.

"I think you can come in and say 'We're varsity' and get your teeth kicked in, but our administration was smart and very patient and did it the right way," Riedinger said.

The calculated, laborious process points to one date: Aug. 22, 2014.

It will be a day for history with an event never before featured in any previous Kelly yearbook. The Hawks of Kelly High School step under the Friday night lights for their first varsity football game at East Prairie.

"We've worked a long time to get where we're at," Riedinger said. "Three years ago when I first got here, I felt like I was going 100 mph and it was happening too fast, and I still wish I had longer to prepare, but eventually we've got to get varsity snaps, and that's what it's all about and playing on Friday nights."

Varsity has become an expression in society, a synonym for big league, prime time and playing with the big boys.

Riedinger knows his team is no longer playing teams primarily comprised of freshmen and sophomores.

"It's going to be bigger; the lights are going to brighter," Riedinger said. "It's going to be a change for us a little bit. They're going to be nervous. They understand the importance of it.

Kelly coach Kenneth Riedinger directs his players at practice Monday. Riedinger led the Hawks to an 8-8 record in their two years of JV football.

"Now we're playing for something. Before, we were just playing to win and we knew at the end of it, whether we won all of them or none of them, we weren't going anywhere after the season. Now that elusive dream is in play at the end of the season in some way shape or form for us. That's what changes it for us. There's playoffs now."

Thus far it's just been a growing experience for the Hawks.

A group that started with 37 players that first year has grown in number to 47. The roster reads alphabetically from Austyn Adams to Johnny Watkins.

It includes just four seniors, 21 juniors, eight sophomores and 14 freshmen.

"If they started playing ... unless we cut them loose for not showing up or something, they've stayed with us," Riedinger said. "They've stayed the course, and that's a testament to our coaches; you have to build a relationship with them."

Dalton Huffman is one of the four seniors on the team, and part of the "good, good, good," impression Riedinger first had when he came to town.

Huffman is a 6-foot-3 receiver who possesses speed. He's one of three players that were on last spring's all-state 400 relay team, as well as a district champion and state qualifier in the triple jump. He's also been there from the ground floor with the football program.

"I think a lot of people were excited to play football from the very beginning, but I think a lot of people were kind of scared and expected us to fail at every game, but once my team and I proved that we were good enough to play football and won several games, it kind of opened the eyes of others, and they wanted to be part of something great," Huffman said. "It kind of encouraged others to play football as well. We even had more kids from other schools, say like from St. Denis, come over because now we have a football team, which some schools don't have."

The Hawks' first JV game in 2012 ended with a 16-0 loss to Scott City.

Huffman admitted to being among a group of nervous Hawks in that JV debut, but the following game brought the program's first victory, a 20-6 win over Grandview.

It was part of a 3-5 debut season. Kelly's JV reversed that record last year, beating East Prairie, St. Vincent, Portageville, Crystal City and Scott City.

The three 2013 losses included down-to-the-end affairs with Fredericktown and Ste. Genevieve and a blowout loss to Jackson.

Huffman realizes skeptics will question the team's ability to translate last year's JV success to the varsity level, but he welcomes the challenge.

"Everybody has been waiting for varsity here," Huffman said. "Our coaches especially, they've been striving for us to be great and everything and keep pushing us harder and harder, always making sure we're getting the practice that we need to win our varsity games.

"When I first started playing football, I knew close to nothing about football. From now, knowing how much I know about it, it's just unbelievable. I never would have thought I'd get to this stage to where I'm at now ... I think the whole team has been like that, going from hardly knowing anything to knowing a ton about football. I can't thank anyone else but our coaches for that."

Huffman will be attempting to haul in passes from strong-armed sophomore quarterback Kyle Fitzgerald, who is not short on confidence as he prepares to jump into the ring.

"It's pretty exciting, getting to get to go out there underneath the Friday night lights and showing everybody what we're made of," said Fitzgerald, who directed the JV offense as a freshman. "We have a lot of people to prove that we're really made of something and not just another JV football team and that we have quite a bit coming for all the other varsity football teams."

What would constitute a successful season for the first-year varsity team?

"Undefeated," Fitzgerald said. "I'm being serious. We have a lot of people to prove wrong."

Riedinger smiled when informed about his young quarterback's definition of success.

"I think that has to be your mentality, but what are your realistic expectations? As a coach you never tell them or a reporter," Riedinger said.

Huffman said he often has to tell Fitzgerald let up a little on his bullet-like passes, and Riedinger's description of his quarterback starts with the right arm.

"He's got a cannon on him," Riedinger said. "He can make all the throws. From the shoulder to his hands is not the problem. The problem is he's a sophomore. We got him a ton of snaps last year. We've done quite a bit with him this summer, and he's picked up our concepts. Super-smart kid, and he's a leader, and he's basically gained our older kids' respect by just working."

Kelly players gather during practice Monday. The Hawks will play their first varsity football game Friday night at East Prairie. (GLENN LANDBERG)

And there has been a lot to work on. The Kelly playbook has grown from around 50 plays that first year to a 180-play-plus array that is fashionably worn as a three-page bracelet strapped to the forearm of players.

"A lot ... too much," Riedinger said about the playbook. "We were very vanilla and had very few formations when we started. We've expanded on that. They're smart kids and they picked it up fast."

Riedinger professes to be conservative by nature, and he's been prodded into expanding his attack by offensive coordinator Lance Towers.

"At the very beginning we hardly passed at all, compared to how much we throw now," Huffman said. "A couple of our wide receiver coaches have been working us with our passing and have basically proved to our head coach, basically showing him that we can catch. It's very deadly for us to do it."

The speed includes junior halfbacks Matt Burford and Maurice Davis, who both ran on the 400 relay team.

Fitzgerald will do a lot of handing off to Burford, who ran the lead leg on the 400 relay. Riedinger said the 5-6 Burford can bench press 300 pounds and describes him as "a little ball of muscle."

"We're going to feed him the ball, and everybody knows that that's ever seen us play," Riedinger said.

The Hawks are not totally without varsity experience. Junior Ethan Faries played varsity football as a freshman and sophomore at Perryville High School, and he served as an alternate on the 400 relay team.

"I wasn't thinking we'd look as good as we did, but we do look a lot better than I thought we would," said Faries, who will split time at the Z position (halfback) in Riedinger's Slot Z, Double Tight offense. "We should have a lot of speed. Our line is pretty strong, and our quarterback is only a sophomore, and he's still learning, but he's doing good."

The offensive line starts at 200 pounds in junior guard Zach Hahs and tops out with 6-6, 330-pound sophomore center Austin Eskew. In between size-wise are juniors Drew Keen and Skyler Markhart and senior Houston Graham, a transfer who played varsity football at Sikeston High School.

Huffman, Davis, Faries and fullback Brent James likely will be the lone offensive players to double up on defense.

Junior Jeremiah Bain began playing football as a freshman and has been a starter both his years at linebacker. He's gotten his football education through Riedinger.

"He tells us what to expect, and we've expected it," Bain said. "He has us prepared for everything."

Riedinger speaks with pride when he talks about how his players, their dedication and absorption of information. However, he knows a test lies ahead for his squad.

"Our thing is we've got good athletes and worked so hard to get them ready, but at the end of the day there's nothing like that experience."

He said he believes in the character of his players he'll be taking under the Friday night lights. He's not sure what the bright lights will expose.

"We don't really know what our strengths are going to be until they turn on the lights," Riedinger said. "Week 9 we'll go, 'Hey, here are our strengths and here our weaknesses.' Because until then, you just don't know. We've got a bunch of pups that just never have done it before, and we're going to see how they respond to it."

Hawks Roster

Hawks roster

No. Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.

1 Ray Galloway 10 5-9 160 WR/DB

2 Logan Hodgkiss 9 5-5 100 QB/WR/DB

4 Bailey Hale 11 5-10 135 QB/RB

5 Parker Ramsey 9 5-6 145 HB/LB

6 Maurice Davis 11 5-11 150 WR/DB

7 Johnny Watkins 10 5-9 145 WR/DB

8 Brian Frala 11 6-0 185 HB/LB

9 Chris Jones 9 5-6 135 WR/DB

10 Kyle Fitzgerald 10 6-0 175 QB/DB

12 Dalton Huffman 12 6-3 175 WR/DB

16 Austyn Adams 11 5-10 170 WR/DB

18 Noah Logeman 11 5-7 135 WR/DB

20 Ethan Faries 11 6-0 165 WR/DB

21 Aaron Birk 11 5-8 150 HB/LB

22 Brent Carlyle 9 5-6 140 WR/LB

24 Nelson Shadwick 9 5-6 135 FB/LB

25 Trey Bolen 11 6-1 175 HB/LB

28 Jonathan Maroney 9 6-0 190 RB/DB

32 Bryce Jarvis 9 5-7 145 OL/DL

34 Brenton James 12 5-11 185 FB/DE

36 Bryan Rogers 11 5-10 165 WR/LB

42 Matthew Burford 11 5-6 175 HB/SS

45 Jeremiah Bain 11 5-6 160 FB/LB

50 Branden Smith 10 5-7 180 OL/DL

52 Skyler Markhart 11 5-9 240 OL/DL

53 Jacob Graham 11 5-10 170 OL/DL

54 Cameron Vetter 9 5-9 185 OL/DL

55 Brad Henderson 11 5-10 185 OL/DL

56 Zach Hahs 11 5-8 170 OL/DL

58 Hunter Chatman 10 5-10 205 OL/DL

60 Charles Tyler Smith 11 5-9 205 OL/DL

61 Carlos Escobar 12 5-6 155 OL/DL

62 Luke Irby 9 5-7 175 OL/DL

63 Austin Graham 11 5-6 225 OL/DL

64 Drew Keen 11 6-1 240 OL/DL

65 Houston Graham 12 6-2 260 OL/DL

68 John Lix 11 6-1 330 OL/DL

71 Shane Goering 10 5-7 175 OL/DL

72 Austin Eskew 10 6-6 300 OL/DL

74 Landon Sides 9 5-9 205 OL/DL

76 Andy Ward 10 5-8 195 OL/DL

77 Dylan Sander 9 5-8 180 OL/DL

80 Chase Morrow 9 6-0 155 OL/DL

81 Charles Freeman 9 5-9 135 WR/DB

83 Jacob Black 11 6-3 185 TE/DE

84 Aaron Graham 11 5-9 230 TE/DE

85 Brent Burke 9 6-1 220 TE/DE

-- Dylan Sander 9 -- -- OL/DL

-- Landon Sides 9 -- -- OL/DL