HOWARD – After the rest of the position groups had gone to get a drink during practice last Thursday afternoon, there stood Kadden Lester – the lanky, swaggering gunslinger with the long, curly brown hair flowing from the back of his purple helmet – as he launched pigskin missiles into the August sky.
He stood at the 25-yard line, in the middle of the field, while his head coach stood in the back corner of the end zone, straddling a pylon. Lester took snaps and lofted spirals over an imaginary defense, most landing softly in his mentor’s hands over 30 yards away.
He rarely missed.
Consider the difficulty of this task – both the consistent trajectory and accuracy required to complete each throw, which many high school quarterbacks never quite perfect – and how it seemed routine to Lester and second-year head coach Cody Reese. Reese offered advice after every throw, but at this point, it was mostly nit-picking. An inch here, an inch there.
This was the vibe at the East Knox High School practice field last week. There was a focus that started with Lester and transferred to the rest of the team, one driven by hunger and a nightmarish end to the 2017 season, when the Bulldogs dropped their final three games after starting the season 7-0. They lost twice by a touchdown or less and their late-season woes cost them a chance at not only a conference championship, but also a playoff berth.
An inch here, an inch there. This year’s team is clearly not ready to give up any more inches.
“It’s definitely there. Every rep, every practice it’s honestly in the back of your head,” senior fullback Kasson Krownapple said, referencing last year’s bitter finish. “But you’ve just gotta move on, it’ll play itself out this year. We’ve got to finish.”
That’s the motto for East Knox this season: ‘Finish.’ Along with Lester, the Bulldogs have the majority of their key playmakers back from last season, when they tied for fourth place in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
Krownapple, who ran for 1,001 yards and 12 touchdowns last year, will return to the backfield. Junior Caleb Gallwitz, who tallied 646 receiving yards in 2017 and was named first-team All-KMAC, will be featured prominently in this year’s spread offense alongside fellow junior wideout Gage Steinmetz, who notched 392 aerial yards last season.
On defense, junior linebacker Dawson David will return after a sophomore season in which he was named second-team All-KMAC. David tied for the team lead in tackles (50) and sacks (7.5) last season.
Krownapple, who recorded 40 tackles last season, will return at linebacker as well. In the trenches, East Knox will rely on three experienced linemen to lead the push – seniors Steve Lybarger and Chris Pumphrey and junior Luke Grosscup.
Lester will carry high expectations with him this year, coming off a sophomore campaign in which he threw for 2,106 yards and 19 touchdowns (second in the KMAC only to Danville’s Skyler Durbin). The junior will be regarded as the conference’s most dangerous quarterback heading into the 2018 season, something he says he’s ready for.
“Oh, a year is a huge growth for me. Last year was my first year getting thrown in there and Coach Reese has taken me under his wing for that, he’s really helped out a lot,” Lester said. “I feel more comfortable with my reads and my step-backs and everything.”
Lester, typically hard on himself, said he has worked on his confidence this offseason. He’s worked on trusting his teammates “instead of trying to throw a lot of weight on my shoulders.”
Just as last year was Lester’s first at starting quarterback, it was also Reese’s first as the head play-caller. Reese also said he feels more comfortable heading into this season, as he and his players have grown accustomed to each other’s expectations.
“In the second year, you know, you’ve been through everything at least once. You’ve learned a lot about what’s worked, what hasn’t. You’ve learned a lot about your players, especially this system, that’s different,” Reese said. “So the players have a better idea of what’s going on and as a coach, we know more about our players within our system and it gives us a better idea of how we can do things.”
While East Knox will return many of its playmakers from last season, it will also miss several impact seniors who have graduated. Jake Gibson, a first-team All-KMAC offensive and defensive lineman, is gone, as is fellow first-teamer Ethan Beckett, who was one of Lester’s main receiving targets last season. Beckett led the team in receiving yards (726) in 2017 and also caught six touchdown passes.
On the defensive side of the ball, Beckett recorded 45.5 tackles and 7.5 sacks last season as a defensive end. He led the team with 18 tackles for loss.
Reese hopes that his team will be ready to take the next step this season after experiencing growing pains in 2017.
“We had some young guys playing last year. So hopefully last season they were able to get some valuable experience and hopefully that experience will prove dividends coming into this season,” Reese said.
Both Reese and Lester emphasized that week-to-week focus will be vital this season, which makes sense considering East Knox’s schedule. The team’s first six opponents combined for 10 wins last season, including two – West Muskingum and Mount Gilead – that went winless.
Things pick up considerably in week seven, however, when Northmor comes to town. The rest of the season is an all-out sprint, with East Knox facing Highland and Danville back-to-back to conclude the regular season slate.
The real test for East Knox this season will come down to that final month of play – one that went horribly awry last year. The offense stalled – it went from averaging 37 points per game through the first seven games to just 16 in the final three – and things crumbled from there.
“Down the stretch we didn’t make enough plays, we didn’t get the job done, and that’s why we didn’t make the playoffs and have a shot at the conference title,” Reese said. “So that’s on us. And we tip our hats to the opponents who did get the job done against us, so not taking any credit from them, but we have to be better.”
Like Krownapple, Reese believes that last season’s finish served as motivation for the team this offseason.
“I think it’s a lot of motivation for our players because they know how hard they worked and how close they were, but how far yet it still was away from our grasp,” Reese said. “So it’s a lot of motivation from day one through the first 10 weeks to make sure we do what we can to make the best of every opportunity that we’re given.”
The Bulldogs finished ninth in Division VI Region 23 rankings last fall, one spot out of playoff contention, although Reese said they would have likely needed two more wins to qualify. The team also finished two games out of first place in the KMAC after suffering losses to both co-champions, Highland and Danville.
With a year of growth under their belt, Howard’s hometown team is back to chase a conference championship and a playoff berth this year. If they were to qualify, it would be the school’s first postseason trip since 2005.
Laser-focused and hungry, they’ll accept nothing less.
“The team that we have this year is probably one of the better teams that has come through East Knox,” Krownapple said. “Everyone tends to overlook us. We’re not all about that, so we’re going to try to take our maturity level up a notch and really try to outplay every team on our schedule.
“I’ve been here for four years and I’ve always wanted to make it to the playoffs. They playoffs is definitely a big goal.”
East Knox will kick off the 2018 season with a road contest at West Muskingum on August 24. The Bulldogs will host Strasburg Franklin in their home opener on September 7.
