Wildcat football finishes off busy month

Louisburg’s Mason Koechner wraps up a Blue Valley Northwest defender during the Wildcats’ scrimmage on June 29 in Louisburg. The Wildcats scrimmaged Blue Valley Southwest the week before and just finished up a busy month of June.

It scrimmaged with Class 5A and 6A programs, traveled to Paola every Monday in June for 7-on-7 workouts and also held its team camp.

Add in the fact players hit the weight room several days a week and it was a busy month of June for the Louisburg High School football team. The Wildcats have put in a lot of work as they prepare for the 2016 season and try for a Frontier League title and a spot in the playoffs.

The Wildcats have taken the right steps to get there, and although Louisburg coach Kyle Littrell has liked what he has seen on the field, he is looking for even more from his team in the month of July.

“I like how our summer is going so far and what we have accomplished, however I think we have not reached our expectations in our conditioning portion of our workouts,” Littrell said. “Workouts get tougher in July and it’s going to be interesting to see who responds. We still have a lot of work to do.”

In in the final two weeks of June, Blue Valley Southwest and Blue Valley Northwest ventured to Louisburg to compete in a controlled scrimmage at the Wildcats’ practice field. Louisburg had a chance to see where it stood against bigger programs and it held its own.

Louisburg running back Thomas San Agustin spins away from a Blue Valley Northwest defender on June 29.

Littrell especially liked what he saw from his group against Blue Valley Northwest as he had more players in attendance.

“I thought the scrimmage with Northwest was the better scrimmage, probably because our whole offensive line was there and we were able to start the gelling process with that group,” he said.

Louisburg also participated in several 7-on-7 workouts throughout the month of June, and while those are geared to improving a team’s offense, Littrell thought those workouts really helped the Wildcat defense.

He is still looking to see improvement from his offense before the team hits the field for the first day of practice on Aug. 15.

“I thought we got better defensively at 7-on-7,” Littrell said. “We did some nice things offensively, but we have a ways to go throwing the ball and the only way to get better at that is by grabbing guys and throwing and catching on your own.”

The Wildcats appear to be one of the favorites in the Frontier League this season as they return several starters on both sides of the ball. Senior lineman Dustyn Rizzo, who was an all-league first team player on defense, returns to lead the Wildcat line.

Fellow seniors Mason Koechner and T.J. Dover, who earned honorable mention, will also help anchor the line of scrimmage with junior Garrett Lowry.

Senior running backs Thomas San Agustin (second team offense last year) and Korbin Hankinson hope to take advantage of the experienced offensive line, while senior Grant Harding will step in to the quarterback spot after serving as the team’s backup last season.

Despite having a number of spots already filled, there are still plenty of positions to be had and Littrell is looking forward to seeing how it shakes out.

“We are having some really nice battles and it is fun to watch these kids compete for something that they love and care about,” he said. “We have battles right now at center, tight end, wide receiver, linebacker and defensive tackle. It will be fun to watch and evaluate these kids as we go along. Every year when we put on the pads, the separation usually takes place.”

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