Leading silently

Kirk Allen answers the door at his family’s two-story home on 8th Ave SW in jeans, an Aeropostale t-shirt and socks.

He sits upright on the family’s blue couch in the pristine living room and never fails to make eye contact. He answers questions demurely. Facing a barrage of queries about his senior season on the Bethlehem Academy basketball team, he is achingly self-effacing.

He answers every question politely, yet is obviously uncomfortable talking about himself at length.

It’s not so much that he dislikes talking about himself, rather his shy demeanor speaks of a deeper quietness.

“I don’t like talking that much,” he admits. “I do a lot of teaching by example.”

“Kirk has always been quiet, except with his friends at school,” his mom, Cecilia, says.

It’s tough to be all that quiet, however, when you’re the lone senior tasked with leading the Cardinals basketball team. When you’re the only player left from the 2009 squad — which featured Chris Palmer and Drew Mathews — that went to state, the young kids look up to you. The coach expects you to take charge.

“A lot of people thought that since I was a senior this year, I should be a verbal leader,” Kirk says. “But you have to do what you’re comfortable with. You don’t have to push yourself to do what other people want you to. You have to stay in your comfort zone.”

“Typically, if you’re going to have a lone senior, you hope it would be someone more vocal,” BA coach Franz Boelter says. “But his work ethic and positive encouragement to the younger kids was extremely valuable. I think they would all tell you that. He’s a very polite and respectful kid. He’s a hard worker.”

Taking charge

In an overly simplistic view, there are two types of leaders: Those who stand up and demand attention, and those who command respect through determination and diligence on the court and during practices. No one questions that Kirk’s style lies in the second category.

“We knew that he led by example and he was a hard worker,” Cecilia says. “We knew he would be a leader with his presence on the court. He’s always been calm and even-keeled and doesn’t let things get to him.”

Even in the one game in which he had to make himself heard — give the rah-rah speech and rally the troops — his biggest impact came on the court, where he has always been most comfortable.

Kirk’s final game was a 60-49 loss to Glenville-Emmons in the Section 1A West semifinals at the Mayo Civic Center on March 8. In the opening minutes, the Cardinals were struggling. So Kirk spoke up in the huddle.

“Pick it up!” he yelled, uncharacteristically.

“I had to pump up my team verbally,” he says later. “They listened and started playing better.”

BA took a 28-20 halftime lead, thanks in large part to Kirk’s 12 first-half points.

“He definitely acted the role of a senior that night,” Franz says. “He elevated his game, especially in the first half. He probably played the best half of basketball he’s ever played. He gave us a chance to be in the game from start to finish. You could see the fire in his eyes that night.”

But all the passion in the world wasn’t enough to overcome a talented Glenville-Emmons squad. As the final buzzer sounded, Kirk walked off the court for the final time, into the waiting arms of his parents, Paul and Cecilia.

“I told him beforehand to put it all out there on the court,” Cecilia says. “We wanted to be sure, when he left the court, no matter what happened, that he could say, ‘I gave it everything.’ When the game was done, he could say he gave it everything. We were proud of what he did.”

“That’s for sure,” Paul says.

Learning the game

For some reason, the 2011 BA senior class never had many basketball players. By the time Kirk was in sixth grade, there were only six players on the team. They often had to call up a third-grader to fill out the squad.

With so few players, Paul, who was the coach, had to slow down the games so his players wouldn’t get too tired. They ran half-court sets and stressed limiting possessions.

“That helped him down the road. Franz has always stressed working for the best shot you can get every time down,” Paul says. “Every possession is important.”

Kirk got his first playing time as a sophomore, as the backup point guard on the state tournament-bound ‘09 squad.

“I was super excited,” Kirk says of his mid-season call-up from the B team, “because there was a lot of good people on that team.”

Franz had known the family since Kirk was a child. He remembers walking into the darkened school on weekends, hearing the sound of a bouncing ball reverberating from the Van Orsow Auditorium. He would peek his head into the gym, and inevitably there were the three Allen boys — Kendric, Kirk and Benjamin — hoisting shots and ribbing each other like only brothers can.

When Franz needed to add another player to his ‘09 team, he called upon Kirk.

“There was a certain toughness to him,” Franz says. “As a young player he had a good ability to shoot the ball. His overall ball skills at a time where we needed a little bit of depth in those areas made him the obvious candidate to join our rotation.”

Even though his playing time was limited, that experience gave Kirk a certain gravitas as senior, as those underclassmen could recall spending their middle school years idolizing that team.

“That gave him some confidence and some credibility,” Franz says.

As a junior, he was the team’s sixth man, playing point guard. In a game against New Life Academy, he hit two shots with 10 seconds left in overtime to secure a 64-62 victory.

“I was nervous at first, but then I realized it was just a basketball game,” he says. “If we won or lost, it was still one of the better games I’ve played.”

While talking about his basketball career, that phrase — “It was just a basketball game” — comes up several times. He told his teammates the same thing before they played Glenville-Emmons. He repeats it when describing what it was like making the transition from sixth man as a junior to starting as a senior.

From point to post

Making that move into the starting lineup wasn’t a big concern for Kirk, because he was spending his time concentrating on his switch from point guard to swingman. Going into his senior year, the team needed someone who could man the post and score from the perimeter. Kirk fit the bill.

“It came about accidentally,” Franz says. “We were playing about eight kids, and sometimes because of the combination of kids we had on the floor, Kirk needed to go inside. As he did go inside, he did some nice things in there, not just from a scoring standpoint but from a passing standpoint. He’s a nice high-post passer.”

The team took advantage of Kirk’s mid-range shooting game, feeding him around the free throw line and watching as he sank 12-to-15-foot jump shots.

“It was nice to see him make that transition with some success,” Paul says. “A lot of kids can’t quite make that, but he did it really well.”

“You saw a transformation from a kid who felt he needed to carry a heavy share of the load to a kid who developed the confidence of his teammates and led them in a number of ways by sharing the ball as well as he did,” Franz says.

He finished his final season as one of the team’s top-three scorers and its second-leading rebounder. He averaged 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and two assists a game. But the statistic that Franz brings up first is his 13 charges. The second stat he mentions is the number of games and practices Kirk missed: Zero.

“Kirk has always had bad knees, but he never missed a practice,” Franz says.

End of an era

As the season wound down, the realization of the end of his competitive career was dawning on his parents more than Kirk.

“It was kind of tough, but yet really fun to watch him evolve as the season went on,” Paul says. “It was neat.”

“It was hard, knowing it was his last year,” Cecilia says. “He’d given his heart and soul to the team and the sport. Knowing it was going to end was hard.”

After every game, Kirk’s dad would come down from the stands and find his son for a quick talk.

“Sometimes even when I didn’t want to,” Kirk says. “Especially after tough losses.”

But those post-game chats were invaluable to Kirk’s confidence and psyche.

“Most of the time he would tell me that I did a really good job and did my best,” Kirk says. “Most of the time it would cheer me up. I did try my best.”

Next year, Kirk, a B-student, will attend Winona State University where he will join his older brother, Kendric, who he played alongside for two years at BA.

Before that, he has his senior baseball season to play. An infielder, Kirk joined the team after playing golf his freshman and sophomore years.

He will continue to try to be a little more out-going, breaking out of his comfort zone.

When his senior basketball season started, Kirk concedes he rarely talked to his teammates.

“At first, it was weird, because I didn’t really talk to anyone,” he says. “After awhile I started talking to a lot of the people on the team and we became very close.”

A tradition on the team is for each family to host a pasta night, where the players and coaches gather to carbo-load before a game. Kirk’s family hosted twice.

“I’m always going to remember that family was very important for them” Franz says. “I think that’s why it’s easy for Kirk to buy into the team concept. His ego never got in the way.”

Nor did his mouth.

For love of the bike

Even late in the evening, the heat lay heavy; suffocating and weighty like wearing a wool blanket in a Finnish sauna.

Still, they rode.

The wind whipped up, biting at the eyes with pinpoints of sand and leaving a gritty film across the teeth.

Yet, they rode.

Two days later, the heat finally exhausted, the mosquitos emerged. The sky darkened, warning of a storm it would soon deliver.

Of course, they rode.

They never considered not riding.

They are Faribault’s dedicated riders. And the Faribault BMX Track is their home.

“BMX is one of the best kept secrets that shouldn’t be a secret,” track operator Quint Juvland says.

•••

A boy, maybe 7 years old, crosses the finish line and finally slows his bike. His mom is calling to him. She offers him a water bottle. As he slips his helmet off, his face is redder than the setting sun disappearing on the horizon. She places the back of her hand on his forehead, feeling the heat pulsing through his veins.

“He wouldn’t stop until he passed out,” she says to no one in particular.

•••

Faribault’s Josh Juvland, 19, starts clicking off his injuries like a housewife reading a grocery list. Broken ribs. A broken wrist. Eight concussions, by his own count.

His longtime friend, Jake Olson, nods along, then starts his own litany. Three broken wrists. A broken ankle. Dislocated elbow and shoulder. Broken ribs.

“It’s like an addiction,” Jack says as he straddles his $3,200 mountain bike. “It’s a passion now.”

“It keeps you out of trouble,” Juvland says. But not out of the emergency room.

Josh and Jack, who is from Elysian, met racing in in the Twin Cities years ago. They’ve been inseparable since.

“We were kind of born into it,” Jack says. “It’s the adrenaline. There’s no limits. There a positive vibe.”

They talk from the middle of the Faribault track on the hottest day of the year. The mercury had reached 102 degrees earlier in the day, and even now, at 7:30 in the evening, it’s preposterously hot. Racing was called off for the night, but there’s still about a dozen dedicated devotees circling the track around them.

“I’m more focused on days like today, when I’m riding with my friends,” Josh says. “We do this everyday.”

•••

A girl, 12 years old, rides slowly along the bike path near Willow Street on a May afternoon. Without warning, her lunch box slips into her front spokes and she flies over the handlebars. Her head slams to the pavement. She stumbles up to a bridge and calls her mom. She has fractured her skull; her brain is bleeding. For weeks afterward she can’t read, write or even watch television. Yet, miraculously, two months later she is back at the Faribault BMX Park, racing three times in July before competing in the state championships in August.

“I was so excited to get back out,” she says. “My mom was more worried than I was.”

“I don’t know how to describe her,” says her older brother, who remembers riding in the emergency helicopter with her on his birthday. “She’s fearless.”

•••

Josh and Jake have been racing at Faribault’s BMX Track, tucked in the back of South Alexander Park along Faribault Lake, for a dozen years. The track was created in 1998 through generous contributions and charitable gambling. The effort was started by parents who were sick of toting their children to Mankato and New Ulm to race on one of the state’s other 14 BMX tracks.

“It got to be where they got tired of traveling,” Quint says.

So the City of Faribault leased the land for $1 and the a board was created to oversee its operations. Now, the track attracts upwards of 80 to 100 racers for the biggest races. On Thursday night — the second race of the 2011 season — more than 50 bikers turned out for their chance to speed around the track. Some are as young at 3. Some are in their 30s. They race in categories ranging from novice to expert.

The track used to feature racing just on Thursday nights. Ten dollars would buy you entry and a chance to win a trophy. Starting this year, Tuesday night racing has been added for just $5, with medals or ribbons for all finishers. Racers also earn points as part of the American Bicycle Association and can win Saber Stamps, which can be used at area bike shops to buy parts and gear.

“It’s awesome,” 14-year-old Caitlin Juvland says. “It’s all you, just yourself. It’s a lot of fun going fast.”

Caitlin is one of the dozen or so girls that compete regularly in Faribault, although she is the oldest by a few years. Most girls drop out when they become teenagers. But not Caitlin.

“I raced her before,” Rob Bruce says, “and she’s fast.”

So fast it only took her two months to recover from that devastating head injury.

Tri-perfect-a!

By BRENDAN BURNETT-KURIE

Reporter/Photographer

A year ago, under a glaring midday sun on a cold November day, it all started.

Friday, after that same autumnal sun had slipped quietly below the horizon and sprayed its last embers of orange light across the field, it ended in pure jubilation.

It was a quest; a journey of men fueled by hearts and souls. It was a triumph; lifted by love, dreams and brotherhood.

There is a room full of doors. Each one leads to another place, another title. Year after year, a group of Bearcat seniors stand in the middle of that room, open another door and walk through it. Then the next group arrives, staring at the doors already opened, pulling insight and inspiration from those who have walked before them. Then they set their sights on an unopened door. And the work begins.

The starting date of construction for the Bearcats’ 2010 3A State Football Championship was Nov. 14, 2009, when graduating senior Colter McNare said, “They can do it. I know they can,” just moments after Douglas won its second consecutive state title.

But the idea – the blueprint and the plans – were hatched years earlier, when a jumble of middle schoolers, who would become Douglas’ 2010 senior class, set their goals impossibly high, then worked for the next six years to build a structure no one believed could stand.

A few of them played as sophomores, when Douglas defeated Buffalo 34-21 to win its first state title in 30 years. Many of them started as juniors, when Douglas destroyed Cody 44-14 to finish the programs’ first-ever 11-0 season. All of them cried as seniors, when they walked off Jonah Field for the final time as Bearcats, after battling back from an early deficit to beat Buffalo 26-14 at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie and bring a third consecutive state title home to Douglas.

“I got to see some of our former players from two years ago that beat Buffalo in the finals,” head coach Jay Rhoades said. “They really got the whole thing rolling. To see them here and being a part of it was awesome. These (2010) seniors just kept building on the foundation that the ones before had left and make it stronger was incredible. I will miss these kids to death.”

Behind a brilliant middle two quarters – Douglas went on a 26-0 run in the second and third periods – and an unbreakable bond, the Bearcats came from 14 points down to finish off another 11-0 season and extend the program’s winning streak to 30 games, just four behind the longest in state history.

“It brings me to my knees,” said senior wide receiver/cornerback/returner Justin Melton, who scored two touchdowns in the game. “Words can’t describe how I feel right now. I’m going to miss this so much, with my brothers out there. We came together and we had that perfect game and it was on the biggest stage. It’s the greatest experience of my life.”

“It’s one of those unspoken things,” defensive coordinator Wes Gamble said. “It feels great for those kids. I felt more emotional than I’ve ever felt. I’m just so happy for all those seniors. I’m very thankful for them, and the (underclassmen) who helped them and our staff. It’s not easy to win three with all that pressure the kids accepted and overcame. They had to get it done and they found a way. They are special.”

It ended as it started, in the gray gloves of senior cornerback Mitch Espeland.

With a minute left in the game, Buffalo, down by 12, had the ball on Douglas’ 10-yard line. Twice in the preceding minute the Bison had converted on fourth-and-10 to keep their final, desperate drive alive. Still grasping at that sliver of hope, the Bison were looking for a quick score, creating a one-score game. Crazier things have happened inside of a minute. Buffalo quarterback Hayden Kessler dropped back on second down and lofted a pass into the right side of the end zone.

“He underthrew the ball to the receiver,” Espeland said. “I actually debated whether to swat it away and make the safe play or pick it. I went up with two hands and caught it. That was the game. I looked up at the clock and I felt awesome.”

Klava sprinted over from his outside linebacker position. He grabbed Espeland by the jersey and hollered, “You won the game for us!”

“My heart dropped at first because I thought they got a touchdown, but Mitch held the ball up and it was pure joy,” senior defensive end Cohner Marker said. “I knew it was over and I couldn’t have been happier.”

“My first thought was, ‘We did it,’” senior quarterback Hayden Barker said. “Ever since seventh grade we’ve been dreaming of this and we made it happen. Gosh. Against Buffalo, too.”

This was a very different scenario than what had happened 42 minutes earlier on Buffalo’s first offensive play of the game. After Douglas drove 60 yards on eight plays – including a 40-yard sweep from senior running back Dylan Klava – Barker was tackled short on a fourth-and-four keeper and gave the ball to the Bison on their own 20. Kessler dropped back and slung a deep pass down the right side, where it bounced off Espeland’s outstretched hands and into the arms of a surprised Aaron Tyser, who raced 74 yards to the six-yard line.

“That’s a one-in-a-million catch,” senior defensive end/fullback Gary Bolinger said.

Four runs later, Buffalo scored on a one-yard leap into the end zone to take a 7-0 lead with 5:30 left in the first quarter.

Buffalo got the ball back again two minutes later and embarked on an 11-play, 66-yard drive that concluded with a Jace Jensen three-yard touchdown run. It was a minute into the second quarter, and the underdog Bison were shocking everyone, except maybe themselves, with a 14-0 lead over the Bearcats.

“They’re a very strong team,” Lisco said. “I give them all the respect in the world.”

“The pressure that was on (our kids) to come out and perform today was pretty big,” Rhoades said. “I think we saw the effects of that in the opening. We weren’t playing to win, we were playing to get beat. When the kids started playing to win, good things happened.”

“I don’t want to say we came out too cocky, but we came out too cocky,” senior running back/defensive end Baylor Sieg said. “We talked that we had to settle down. We knew that and we did what we had to do.”

Yet even in that moment of despair, the Bearcat bond could not be broken.

“This team, they could be down 50-0 before half and they will find a way to come back and win it,” Sieg said.

The Bison would gain a total of three offensive yards on their next six possessions. They didn’t get another first down for the next 19 minutes.

“I think (Buffalo) came out and they were very well coached and physical,” Gamble said. “Our kids had the ability to say, ‘No more.’ There were no adjustments. It was the kids. They got off blocks and they started getting to the ball. Our defensive prayer is ‘Get to the football.’ Coach (Todd) Weber has preached it for years and been adamant about it. Coach (Jack) Seeds has preached heel line and been adamant about it. The kids believe in those guys and they started getting back to the basics.”

While the defense was preventing Buffalo from moving the ball, the offense started to click behind an energized passing game. Barker connected with Aaron Jamerman on a 15-yard pass, then Paul Foy on a 14-yard toss before capping the drive with a bomb down the left sideline that hit Melton in stride for a 48-yard touchdown. Saxon Bull connected on the extra point as Douglas pulled within 14-7 with 6:45 left in the second quarter.

“They were leaving holes in their defense and we were exploiting them and Hayden was finding us,” Jamerman said. “Hayden did an awesome job. He played amazing. I can’t even talk him up enough.”

With 3:26 left in the second quarter, Buffalo faced a third-and-seven at midfield. Kessler’s pass was batted at the line by Sieg, then floated through the air where senior defensive lineman Taylor Lisco snatched it.

“I pressed and I saw Baylor go up and swat it, and that’s really what made the play, and then I just came by and scooped it up,” Lisco said. “I was carrying it like a loaf of bread.”

“Lisco’s interception turned the switch on for us,” Klava said.

But things didn’t immediately seem brighter for the Bearcats. After a pair of penalties, Douglas faced a 1st-and-34 from its own 34-yard line, Barker connected with Jamerman on a 28-yard pass, then hit Espeland on a 21-yard slant.

“This is where our passing game really stepped up,” Sieg said. “We’ve had this potential all year and we finally decided to bring it out.”

With 23 seconds left before halftime, Barker found Melton on a fade to the left side of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown. With two touchdowns in less than seven minutes, the Bearcats had tied the game at 14-14.

“That’s all coach (Josh) Goodrich,” Rhoades said. “They kept flipping their defense on that last drive. We’d see three defensive backs and then we’d see four. I was trying to get in a rhythm with my calls to beat one and then they’d be in the other. Right at the end, coach Goodrich called a quick check and that was all Hayden and Melton making a great play.”

“That shows so much about our team,” Melton said. “We kept our heads up because we wanted this more. We came back and exploded. That second quarter, we picked our heads up and we realized what we had to do and we did it.”

Melton’s heroics continued in the second half. He picked off Kessler on a tipped pass on the third play of the third quarter and returned it to the one-yard line. It only took the Bearcats one play – a Barker sneak – to grab their first lead of the game at 20-14.

“We played for each other and we rallied around each other,” Jamerman said. “Doing that, we knew we could come back.”

Now reeling from three straight Douglas scores, the Bison started with the ball on their own 20-yard line, but lost two yards on three plays before punting back to, who else, Melton. He sprinted untouched around the left side for a 47-yard punt return down to the four-yard line.

“Our playmakers that we’ve relied on for so long, that maybe didn’t have the best years statistically that they wanted, came through tonight,” Rhoades said. “Justin Melton was definitely the player of the game. I was so happy with all these kids. I can’t say enough about being a part of it.”

From the four-yard line, Klava ran the ball three times but couldn’t get into the end zone. Bull lined up and kicked a 21-yard field goal, but the Bison were penalized for roughing the kicker, giving Douglas a first down on the two-yard line. One play later, Barker snuck into the end zone on a three-yard run as Douglas went up 26-14 with 6:38 left in the third quarter.

After a season built on a strong running game featuring 1,000-yard back Klava and 500-yard backup Sieg, it was the overshadowed pass game that came through when needed.

“If you look at all the games, we’re a run-first team,” Klava said. “They keyed on our run and tried to make us go to our weakness, which turned out to be our strength.”

Klava rushed for 102 yards on 24 carries, although 40 of those came on the second play of the game.

“We opened up with that big toss and we thought that would open up our middle stuff and it never did,” Rhoades said. “We had to go to the air a little bit.”

“They did try to stop our run game,” Melton said. “Usually they come out with a two-safety look and they brought one up as an outside linebacker and the field was open after you got past the corners.”

The Bearcats finished with 278 yard of offense, 159 of those coming through the air. Barker finished 10-for-13 for 159 yards and two touchdowns.

“I was really impressed with Hayden today,” Rhoades said. “I knew he would come to play today and he did.”

Barker, who was playing with gloves for the first time this season, completed passes to five different receivers, with Jamerman grabbing three for 56 yards and Melton grabbing two for 66 yards.

“It was awesome because they keyed on me and they forgot about Hayden, Justin, Mitch, Aaron. They all had great games,” Klava said. “Foy had a great game. They didn’t account for them at all.”

“I think it opened up other options, too, when Hayden spread the ball out,” Espeland said. “A lot of times he was scrambling when he was throwing it and he made the pass. He played great.”

As Barker finished his round of interviews after the game, his younger brother, Logan, a freshman, came up and yelled into the microphone, “I have the best brother in the world.”

Despite Buffalo getting into the red zone three times in the final five minutes, the Bison were never able to convert and Espeland’s timely interception – Douglas’ third of the game – sealed the title. After the final seconds ticked off the clock, the players struggled to describe their emotions. In the end, they settled on two words: amazing and bittersweet.

“It’s sad,” Melton said. “It’s a bittersweet feeling. But, we ended it the right way. There’s no better way to do it.”

“It feels amazing,” Sieg said. “It’s a lot different as a senior. This is a team I wouldn’t trade for the world. It’s over, but I loved it. It was the greatest four years of my life.”

“It’s great, man. It’s indescribable,” Klava said. “Bittersweet. But that’s what I said last week. It is bittersweet because it’s awesome, but you have to look back and it’s over.”

“It feels amazing,” Jamerman said. “It’s beyond words. I can’t even describe it. I think being a senior and knowing it’s the last game you’ll ever play makes it more special.”

“It’s awesome,” Bolinger said. “All that hard work paid off. I’m out here with my brothers. It feels different in that we’re seniors. This is the last one and we went out with a bang.”

“It feels great,” Lisco said. “There was a lot of hard work put into it and it feels awesome. Words can’t explain it. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

“I just can’t describe it in words,” Foy said. “It’s awesome. It’s different being a senior. Going into the game you know it’s your last one. You try to make the most of it, and we did.”

“Taking it for the third time is amazing,” Marker said. “There’s nothing like it. I think what makes it special was we were against Buffalo. It means a lot for these seniors.”

“I’m loving this right now,” Espeland said. “To share it with these guys is the best feeling ever. It’s more bittersweet than the last two. I always thought, ‘Yes, I can get one next year.’ But this is it for us. I love ending on this, though. This is the greatest feeling to end on.”

'We Had To'

We Had To

By BRENDAN BURNETT-KURIE

“It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”

– The Little Prince

For a moment, the tears didn’t fall from Pierre Etchemendy’s eyes.

Under the humming light of the jaundiced back gym, his lower eyelids held strong, damming up the reservoirs of salty tears that collected in the running back’s brown, red-rimmed eyes.

Then, the levees broke. The tears rolled, rushing down his cheeks, across smeared blue face paint and sweat residue. They reached his chin and dripped like a clogged gutter onto his jersey.

Pierre stands 6 feet tall and carries 175 pounds of pure muscle; mostly in his shoulders and bulging biceps. From the sidelines, you can hear his screams from middle linebacker as he motions players around the field.

As he cries, he is quiet. Finally, he speaks, but it’s more of a lengthy, soothing, exhale that the tongue roughly forms into words as a last effort.

“We’ve lost many close people this week,” he pauses. His hand touches his chin, he feels the tears. His eyes drift to the floor and then back up. Just minutes before, he had walked off the field at Bearcat Stadium as the new record holder for touchdowns in a single game.

With 6:17 left in Douglas’ 76-14 win over Rawlins, sophomore running back Baylor Sieg purposely ran out of bounds at the two-yard line so Etchemendy could return to the game for his sixth touchdown, breaking a three-way tie with Scott Boner (2007) and Payden McIntyre (2006).

“At halftime, coach asked me if I wanted it,” he says in a shaky murmur. “I told him I didn’t want it for me. I wanted it for them. We dedicated that last one to them.”

Them was Levi Sober and Skye Hiser, two Douglas High School students – one a junior, one a senior – who died tragically in the last week, leading Etchemendy and fellow seniors Colter McNare and Trae Seebaum to have Douglas Sign Company make up stickers – black crosses with red hearts that read “In memory of,”  above the interlocking initials SLH and LJS – that each player wore behind the ear of his helmet.

“Every play, I thought about them,” Etchemendy said. “It was a hard football game. It was a rough halftime, to go back out and finish, but we had to.”

In the end, Douglas finished a dominating win over Rawlins at home Oct. 9, earning Etchemendy a spot in the record books along the way.

But he never would have gotten there without the altruistic act of a sophomore third-stringer.

Etchemendy had five scores before halftime, but the Douglas offense didn’t get the ball until the last minute of the third quarter, due to two interceptions returned for touchdowns, a botched punt return and a mercy rule that kept the clock running. Already holding a 70-6 lead, the Bearcats sent their JV team onto the field to finish out the game.

But Sieg burst loose on a 42-yard run midway through the fourth quarter, then unexpectedly stopped at the two-yard line and sprinted out of bounds.

“I broke away and I had two options, I decided we’re a team, we’re brothers,” Sieg said. “(Pierre) is one of the best people in the world and he really deserves it. I just ran it out.”

Etchemendy was honored by his backup’s thoughtfulness.

“Baylor told me what he was going to do if he got down there, but he didn’t have to do it,” Etchemendy said. “Baylor did a totally unselfish act. I can’t say enough about him running out of bounds like that. The coaches weren’t making him, it was all him. I can’t thank him enough for that.”

“Baylor Sieg is a special young man,” Rhoades said, his eyes moistening. “That was very unselfish, very un-centered. Instead of being self-centered, he’s un-centered. To give Etchemendy the shot at the record, which Etchemendy made sure he pointed out to everybody when we talked about getting it at halftime, that was not for him. That was for his teammates. That was for the families who lost people this week.”

“I’m kind of at a loss of words for kids like Pierre Etchemendy and Baylor Sieg,” defensive coordinator Wes Gamble said. “He gives his touchdown – he doesn’t get many at the varsity level – to Pierre. That shows what kind of team we have. Very unselfish. Very emotional. You won’t find a group of kids tighter than this group. They’re special.”

But it was junior backup running back Dylan Klava – the man who sits between Etchemendy and Sieg on the depth chart and rushed for 76 yards and scored three touchdowns himself – who perhaps put it best.

“That’s class right there,” he said. “That doesn’t happen very often. People don’t do that.”

“I actually started crying,” junior quarterback Hayden Barker said.

For the juniors and seniors on the team it wasn’t just an emotional win; it meant more than a 62-point blowout on a 16-degree night on an inch of powdery snow ever should. But it also brought a sense of normalcy, a return to the routine that they all needed so desperately.

“I know it helped get our minds off what’s happened,” Sieg said.

“It was a bittersweet win because of everything that’s going on, but we went out and played football and I think it helped a lot of us,” Etchemendy said.

Earlier that Friday morning, after hearing the news of Hiser’s death the day before, Rhoades and his staff gathered the team and asked them one question:

“We’re going to make this decision as a team, do you want to play tonight?”

“Every senior we had who was close to Skye Hiser and every junior who was close to Levi Sober wanted to play tonight,” Rhoades said. “I don’t think there is one of those kids who had the strength on their own to go out and play tonight. When you put them all together, the strength of that team and the bond they have is pretty incredible.”

“You coach these kids throughout your lifetime and you have all these groups,” Gamble said. “Then you have that one, special group. These guys are it. They are a band of brothers.”

In the locker room before the game, Etchemendy described the atmosphere as somber, but intense.

“It was quiet, more focused,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of hooting and hollering. We knew what it was about, and we went out and played football for them.”

Rhoades had a slightly different take on the motivation his team felt as it took the snow-covered field.

“I don’t think they played it for them,” he said. “They played it to honor them and to honor our team. The Bearcat football team gives the Hiser and Sober families all our love and thoughts and prayers.”

On his final play, nearly 18 minutes after his last rushing attempt, Etchemendy lined up in the backfield, bent at the seven-yard line, then took a toss around the left end untouched to shatter the record. As he crossed the goal-line, he had one thought.

“I was at peace,” he said. “There’s nothing better.”

State Champs!

State Champs!

By BRENDAN BURNETT-KURIE

Some stood, some crouched, some leapt. Some screamed, some smiled, some wept. Some hugged teammates, some hugged family, some hugged coach. Some couldn’t believe it, some always believed it, some still didn’t believe it.

Yet they were united in a common belief: Hard work will pay off in incredible ways. And they were united by their new title: State Champions.

The Douglas wrestling team had a motto this season, a simple idiom which they recited before every meet and practice.

“Train to Win.”

Before the 3A State Wrestling Championships started, they gathered together. For the last match, the final mountain, the home stretch, there was a new maxim.

“We’ve trained all year. Now let’s win.”

Win they did.

***

The Bearcats claimed their first state wrestling championship since 1999, clinching in thrilling, breath-taking, nail-biting fashion as they scratched back from 26.5-points down with six weights to go to beat Powell 275.5-274.5 in Casper Feb. 27. Worland finished third with a score of 207.5.

“This is the most amazing feeling ever,” Trent Boner said. “I’m speechless. I’ve never felt something like this, ever.”

“Amazing, incredible, the best ever,” Colter McNare described his feeling of elation. “For me, this is better (than football). (Coach Bob) Bath is such a great guy and a great coach. I think he deserves it.”

The Bearcats earned pins in four of the final six weights – and wins in five of them – as no Bearcat could lose down the stretch if they wanted to see their dream of a state title burst to fruition.

“It just couldn’t have been a better ending,” Bath said. “To come back like that and have all those kids contribute, it’s just like when we won it last time in 1999. We had to pin in the finals to win it.”

Douglas had five wrestlers crowned individual champions, tying a school record set in 1975. Seniors Houston Falkenburg (152 lbs.), Pierre Etchemendy (171 lbs.) and McNare (189 lbs.) won, with Etchemendy and McNare winning their second straight state titles and Falkenburg in the finals for the third straight season. They were joined by juniors Boner (215 lbs.) and Joe Lake (HWT). Boner reached the finals last year while Lake spent most of this season wrestling on JV behind Boner.

“It was just special for Houson, for Colter, for Pierre,” Bath said. “They’re just an amazing group of kids. I just loved working with them. They worked hard. It paid off.”

Sophomores Reed Burgener (130 lbs.) and Lane Read (140 lbs.) both finished second, losing to Powell wrestlers in the finals. Douglas tied a school record (set last year) with seven in the finals. The Bearcats had finished second at state the last three years, the last two behind Powell.

“We’ve been right there for a number of years,” Bath said. “That makes it nice. I’m just speechless. I’m so happy for these kids because they’re such a good group of kids and they work so hard. They all contributed. That’s what’s special about it. All of them did their part.”

Freshman Raymond Geho (103 lbs.) and senior Kevin Baker (119 lbs.) finished third while sophomore Tanner Miller (145 lbs.) was fourth. Sophomores Cody Estes (112 lbs.) and Zac Owens (160 lbs.) and freshman Jake Lake (171 lbs.) finished sixth.

Mighty Joe Lake

In the end, it all came down to Lake at heavyweight. With Douglas trailing by five, he needed a major decision (worth 5.5 points) or a pin (6 points) to give Douglas the win.

On days he has to weigh-in, Lake awakes hoping to weight 186 lbs. From there, he can drink enough water to reach the 190 lb. benchmark he needs in order to qualify as a heavyweight.

As he took the mat with an air of confidence, he found himself in the shadow of 280-lb. Ryley Dawson of Rawlins. As Falkenburg would later point out, it was a modern-day version of David and Goliath.

Lake quickly went up 4-0 in the first 1:20, then took a 6-0 lead 28 seconds into the second round. A minute later, Lake flipped Dawson onto his back and shimmied his shoulders to the ground 3:36 into the match.

Chaos ensued. Bath and his coaching staff leapt in the air in pure joy, as the rest of the Bearcat team started hugging as tears flowed freely. Bath had Gatorade cascade over his head as he kept walking around the mat with his hands on his head, apparently in disbelief at the inspirational comeback his team had just completed.

“I told the coaches before the match, ‘Joe’s gonna pin him. Don’t worry. Joe’s gonna pin him. I told my wife that before this ever started,’” Bath said, then paused for a moment as his voice cracked. “I said it was going to come down to the last match and Joe’s going to go out there and pin him. I guess I willed that.”

“I was just so excited and happy,” Lake said of the moment the referee slapped the mat, signaling his pin. “I was so tired, but it was so amazing. Right now it just feels like another win, but I’m sure it will kick in.”

“I knew I had to wrestle my match first and let the pin come later,” Lake went on to say. “I was trying to wear him out in the first period. I knew he’d get tired, and he did.”

“He’s got a lot of heart, that’s all I can say,” Etchemendy said of Lake.

Finals frenzy

Headed into the final round, Douglas trailed Powell by 11.5 points. Powell had eight in the finals and Douglas had seven.

Burgener was the first Bearcat to take the mat, facing off against Powell’s Colt Nix. Burgener –  who finished third last year – fell behind 7-0 in the first round. He eventually lost 19-4.

“He got in on my legs and as soon as he got on top he put his legs in and I couldn’t get him off. He knew he shouldn’t let me on top because he knew I could turn him,” Burgener said. “I was just trying to throw him at the end, trying to get him on his back.”

Burgener was followed by Read at 140 lbs., who was matched up with Powell’s Randy Andrews. Read fell behind 4-0 in the first round and eventually lost 8-0, leaving Douglas trailing by 22.5 with five wrestlers left.

“I couldn’t really do much,” Read said. “I didn’t shoot so I fell behind. I tried a headlock and I slipped. I was down a lot and I just couldn’t get back up.”

Powell stretched its lead to 26.5 as Auston Carter won his fourth-straight state title, championing the 145 lb. weight class with a 3-2 come-from-behind-win over Wheatland’s Tyler Smart.

The Bearcats could still score 30 points with their five wrestlers, leaving a razor-thin margin of error. Douglas would also need Powell’s Cole Kary to lose at 160 lbs., and he obliged, falling in 4:21 to Wheatland’s Dustin Finnerty.

Falkenburg ignited the startling comeback with a 14-3 major decision over Powell’s Jimmy Seckman. If Falkenburg had lost, the Bearcats would have been eliminated.

“I had to win, so it was kind of a big burden on my shoulders to go out there and know that I have to win in order for the team to win,” Falkenburg said. “I just wanted to stay on (Seckman) and attack, attack, attack.”

Still, Douglas trailed by 21 with four wrestlers to go. Etchemendy came out at 171 lbs. and jumped out to a big lead, but he knew he needed a pin to earn the most possible points.

“My bracket wasn’t that tough,” Etchemendy said. “I had to get the pin and I stepped up and did that for the team.”

After building a 14-1 lead, he finally got his pin with 1:44 left in the third round over Thermopolis’ Kyle Larson.

“All we have to do is pin through these last three and we have it made,” Falkenburg said excitedly. “We can come out with five individual champions and a team championship.”

McNare took the mat against Powell’s Monte Nickles at 189 lbs. with Douglas down by 15. McNare had beaten Nickles 13-3 earlier in the year and was hoping for a pin this time around. But by going for a pin, McNare briefly took himself out of his comfort zone and fell behind 2-0 in the first roud.

“I just wanted to pin him so the team could win instead of just wrestling my match,” McNare said. “I was just going for one thing instead of just wrestling.”

Down 3-1 a minute into the second round, McNare snapped out of it, tying the match at 3-3 with a takedown. Nickles went up 4-3 with an escape, then McNare grabbed his first lead at 5-4 with a takedown. With merely 10 seconds left on the clock, Nickles burst out for a final escape to force overtime.

“My hands were just clawing at him, trying to hold him down,” McNare said.

The extra frame started slowly, but with six seconds left, McNare took Nickles down for the much-needed 7-5 win.

“Doing anything I could to win was all I could think,” McNare said.

“Colter and I are as close friends as you can have,” Etchemendy said with his voice faltering. “I was wanting it for him. He deserves it. He worked hard. I was worried, because he knew he could win.”

Douglas still trailed by 11 with two weights left, but it took Boner only 49 seconds to pin Newcastle’s Adam Himrich and pull the Bearcats within five.

“I knew what I had to do,” Boner said. “I had to get a pin. I went out there and I knew I was going to do that. I had to do it for the team.”

That’s when Lake stepped up and etched his name in Bearcat history, igniting one of the most emotional celebrations the Casper Events Center has ever seen.

“The weight that was on Joe’s shoulders? I can only imagine,” Falkenburg said. “This is so amazing. This is the Bearcat’s year.”

The thrill of victory

“It was so exciting, I almost blacked out in a way,” McNare said.

“It feels great,” Etchemendy said. “This is twice (as good) as football. It’s an amazing feeling. Each and every one of us had to go out there and do our part. There wasn’t one person carrying the whole team. It came down to Joe, but every single one of us who got third, who got sixth, everone of us helped us win by one point. Every single match counts. We all came out and worked hard and it’s amazing.”

It was that camraderie, so hard to find in a sport where each individual is on an island while competing, that helped rally the Bearcats in those final minutes.

“Everybody came together as a team,” Boner said. “Everyone cared about everyone and how they did. There’s no individuals. Everything was part of a team.”

The Bearcats also got wins along the way from Ryan Schneible (125 lbs.), Jordan Fenton (135 lbs.), Tim Harris (160 lbs.), Taylor Lisco (189 lbs.) and Cody Dulmus (HWT).

“Those kids, even the ones that didn’t place, but won matches, a Ryan Schneible, a Jordan Fenton, they made the difference,” Bath said. “I don’t know what else to say.”

After taking their spot on the medal stand, the Bearcats took a jubilant ride to Poor Boys Steakhouse, where they celebrated with thick cuts and big smiles.

It didn’t matter how well the steaks were cooked, each bite was perfect. After all, everything tastes better when you’re a champion.