STAFFORD HIGH SCHOOL
TROJANS
Classification: Eight-Man Division-II
District: 5 (Ashland, Bucklin, Cunningham, Fairfield, Minneola)
League: Heart of the Plains
Head coach: Jeff Lowther
Assistant coach(es): Mike Cargill, Joe Hornung and Jason Storm
Base offense: Option Spread
Base defense: 3-5
Roster
DJ Peak, QB/DB, 116 pounds, Fr.; Marcus Foos, OL/RB/DL, 177, Sr.; Daniel Valadez, WR/DB, 125, Jr.; Jesus Herrera, RB/DB, 135, Sr.; Josh Harter, RB/DB, 141, Soph; Derek McClure, QB/DB, 136, Sr.; Trenton Weber, TE/LB, 148, Sr.; Austin Ceniti, WR/DB, 185, Sr.; Austin Amos, OL/RB/DL, 198, Sr.; Brett Bishop, WR/DB, 145, Soph.; Parker Patterson, QB/WR/DB, 160, Soph.; Wyman Plumb, OL/DL, 139, Fr.; Mikey Aguilar, OL/DL/DB, 152, Jr.; Ethan Johnson, RB/LB/DB, 179, Sr.; Riley Juel, OL/TE/DB, 140, Sr.; Preston Ceniti, RB/DB, 142, Soph.; Austin Davis, WR/DB, 157, Soph.; Bobby DeLeon, TE/DL, 145, Soph.; Adrian Flores, RB/DB, 147, Fr.; Taner Sipes, OL/LB, 167, Soph.; Jacob Foster, OL/DL, 158, Fr.; Erik Herrera, OL/DL, 195, Jr.; Schyler Mathies, OL/DL, 245, Sr.; Luke Alpers, OL/DL, 200, Soph.; Mikey Smiley, OL/DL, 162, Fr.
Schedule
Sept. 5 — PRETTY PRAIRIE
Sept. 12 — At Burrton
Sept. 19 — HUTCHINSON CENTRAL CHRISTIAN
Sept. 26 — SOUTH BARBER
Oct. 3 — CUNNINGHAM
Oct. 10 — At Ashland
Oct. 17 — FAIRFIELD
Oct. 24 — At Bucklin
Oct. 30 — MINNEOLA
* — District games
All games at 7 p.m.
HOME GAMES IN ALL CAPS
STAFFORD — The Stafford High School football team is coming off one of the more successful regular season in recent memory.
The Trojans finished 7-3 overall, including a 3-1 record in their district.
Waverly ended Stafford’s season, 24-20, in the first round.
Stafford was also 3-1 in the Heart of the Plains league.
Success can breed interest.
“We’re pretty motivated,” Stafford head coach Jeff Lowther said. “We’ve been working pretty hard.”
Interest can breed numbers.
“We have 25 kids out this year,” Lowther said. “That’s the most we’ve had in the last five years. A lot of these 25 are younger. We even have five JV games on our schedule, which will be good. We can get the young players some experience.”
The Trojans graduated three seniors from last year’s team, Tristin Paulsen, Chad Hildebrand and Kris Lewis.
Paulsen accounted for nearly half of the rushing yards with 1,258 and 21 touchdowns last season.
However, the Trojans return Ethan Johnson at tailback.
Johnson rushed for 1,477 yards and 20 scores last year.
Lowther said there are others who will be stepping up to fill the open positions.
“We have some kids we’re working in in those places,” Lowther said. “We do have better depth than we have had in years, so it may not be one person who steps up. It might be several people who step up to fill in.”
Along with Johnson, there is Derek McClure, who is the returning starting quarterback.
McClure completed 47 of 78 passes for 928 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He threw four picks.
“We have a lot of linemen who are returning with experience for us, too,” Lowther said.
The experience is part of a sizable senior class for the Trojans.
“We have an unusually large senior class,” Lowther said. “We have 10 seniors, and most of them have played some for us.”
The depth the team has will help filling in for the graduated players.
“We have these holes, but we have a lot of players to fill in,” Lowther said. “They may be young, but they’ll learn. We have a lot of players out that want to play well and get better each week.
“They play hard and keep working.”
Finally, success can breed expectations.
“We’re young this year, but we do return a strong core group,” Lowther said. “There is definitely high expectations throughout the community.”
