PLAYERS HUNGER IS KEY TO VIKING FOOTBALL REBUILD

By Staff

LINDSBORG – Returning just one starter, the Smoky Valley football team has a major rebuild ahead of them for the 2023 season.

Viking head coach Tim Lambert enters his ninth season in charge of the football program with possibly one of the biggest rebuild projects ahead of him after losing 18 seniors to graduation.

Finishing 4-5 in 2022, Lambert is now 44-33 in his eight seasons so far at Smoky Valley while he is 209-105 overall as a head coach of high school football.

Assisting Lambert in 2023 will be Chris McClure, Allen Meier, Ben Elliott, Courtney Strauss and James Henderson.

Ezekiel Baker, a six-foot, 205-pound, junior lineman is the lone returning starter. Baker will be at center on offense and will play defensive end on defense.

“Our biggest concerns coming into this fall season will be our depth,” noted coach Lambert. “We just do not have much depth coming into the season.”

What the Vikings do have is a young team as they have a small senior class but a bunch of juniors and sophomores to rebuild with.

Among those will be Ty Heitschmidt, a six-foot-four, 212-pound sophomore who led Smoky Valley in kickoff returns last season with nearly 2,000 yards and a touchdown as a freshman. Heitschmidt is also the only player on the team to throw a pass on offense other than graduated Karson Pihl, and he only threw the ball one time.

Two others who have caught the attention of the coaches are juniors Cooper Whitaker, a fullback/linebacker, and Gavin Stambaugh plus Ezkiel’s brother Gabe Baker.

Coach Lambert finished out his preseason reflections by saying, “We have a lot of young men that are hungry to get varsity playing time. Due to our large class of seniors in 2022, very few of these guys had an opportunity to see a lot of gametime action, all of which motivates them to work hard.”

The Vikings will open the 2023 season on the road Friday, September 1 at Halstead.

2023 SMOKY VALLEY VIKING FOOTBALL SCHEDULE:

Friday, September 1 = At Halstead

Friday, September 8 = Host Haven

Friday, September 15 = At Larned

Friday, September 22 = Host Andale

Friday, September 29 = at Cheney

Friday, October 6 = Host Pratt

Friday, October 13 = Host Hillsboro

Friday, October 20 = At Nickerson

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at macks.people.places@gmail.com)