The small town of Pierce City has been through a lot over the years. Founded in 1870 as “Peirce” City and named for St. Louis-San Francisco railway president Andrew Peirce, Jr., the spelling changed because of an error by the US Postal Service. And since that time the small town has survived a lot including a 2003 F-3 tornado that damaged 90% of the downtown area.
After the devastating storm, local residents got their spirits raised by their Eagle high school football team. Back in the days when schools had to qualify for the post-season (every team makes the play-offs now), Pierce City qualified in three consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010) and at one point won seven conference titles.
But since 2010, the Spring River Valley conference team hasn’t won a single district play-off game. Pierce City went 4-6 in 2011, 3-7 in 2012, 3-5 in 2013, 4-5 in 2014, and 4-5 last season including a 27-26 heartbreaker to Cabool in the Class 1, District 2 first-round.
But after years hovering around that 500 mark, head coach Brad Hocker believes his Eagles might be ready to soar again soon.
“Any small school is going to have those peaks and valleys most of the time,” Hocker said. “We’re starting to hit that peak again and I feel like it’s the right time for our kids to take a step forward. If we can keep them passionate about the game, and I think that’s something we’ve had to fight in the sport in general, some good things will happen.”
Hocker is optimistic because the Eagles have some good talent including a strong offensive line led by all-conference returnee Trenton Byers at 6-3 and 275 pounds. He’ll be blocking for running backs Jordan Cruz and Mitchell Copening (Copening averaged 7.8 yards-per-carry last year) plus quarterback Gage Brown, a duel-threat newcomer.
“Gage has done a good job at throwing the ball underneath and making good decisions,” Hocker explained. “He’s good at changing the play at the line and putting us in good situations. If we can keep him healthy we’ve got a chance to be in some games this year.”
Twin brothers also make up a key component of the Pierce City team. Dallas and Donell Kleiboeker both play linebacker.
“One also plays wide receiver and the other plays fullback,” Hocker adds. “Both are super-competitive. Great leaders that you can move all over the field on offensive or defense. They’re a class-act.”
Hocker has stressed accountability and work-ethic in trying to build the program back to its past success.
“If you show them that you care about them and teach them how to work and do things correctly they’re going to fight for you and a I feel like we’ve got a good group of kids that want to be successful and if we continue to stick together and be positive and not focus on the negative, good things will happen.”
And while Hocker has been stressing the mental side of turning around his team’s fortunes, he also believes the single most important factor in the Eagles improvement is a very tangible goal.
“We turned the ball-over way too much last year,” he recalls. “We’ve got to cut down on turnovers. Defensively I think we’ll be better because we’re stronger and we’ve been in the system another year. We’ll be in the right places and it’s about winning individual battles. On Friday nights if you’re the one winning those individual battles you’re going to be in good shape.”
The Eagles first game is against Diamond, the school Hocker was coaching when the 2003 tornado hit Pierce City.
“What impressed me about this community and made me want to coach here is how they picked themselves up by the bootstraps and continued to rebuild and focus on the positive,” Hocker said. “And this team can play a big part in bringing the community spirit up. They’ve had it for a long time. And these kids are part of that…part of something special. Part of a community that believes seriously in doing their best. I’m happy to be a part of that and I want to continue to be a positive influence on these kids.”
