By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Travis Burk has been coaching football for 20 years, but this fall marks a first for him.
“This is my first time ever starting a program,” he said. “I’ve taken some over but starting… there’s definitely a lot more to it, especially when you don’t have the facilities.”
Burk has been tabbed to lead the new 8-man football program at College Heights Christian School in Joplin. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Carthage and also had stops in Humboldt and Neodesha in Kansas. He last coached at Labette County (Kan.) High School three years ago.
“These kids are fired up,” he said. “As far as atmosphere it’s been great. I’ve had a lot of teachers and people from the community saying we’re going to come check your games out. We’ve never seen 8-man football so that will be exciting. We have a great following with our families and it’s a great community. There’s something to be said about College Heights, the parents are just great people.”
So where do you start in building a program from scratch? Under Burk, the school has fixed up a weight room with some new paint and equipment, and the coach started teaching the athletes proper form last spring. College Heights had to buy all new equipment, everything from helmets and headsets to tackling dummies. The money has been donated from parents and people in the community.
The school lacks a football field, so the team will play its home games in the small stadium at Joplin High School (the Eagles play off campus at Junge Field).
The Cougars averaged just over 20 kids during summer workouts, and Burk spent much of the time just learning who his players are.
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“Learning the kids who can catch a ball a little bit, who can run, who’s got speed and putting them in different positions,” he said. “I had eight kids who had never strapped a helmet to their head. There’s a lot of newness to this. A lot of kids have played pee wee football but a lot of our kids haven’t. I’m excited. It’s a fun group and it’s been a blast.”
The roster includes four seniors in Derrick McMillian, Kurtis Davenport, Noah Hipple and Bo Sitton. There are five juniors, six sophomores and six freshmen.
McMillian figures to play cornerback and Davenport (6-6, 235 pounds) and Hipple (6-4, 180) bring size to the defensive ends.
Junior Caleb Quade (6-foot-4) will play wide receiver and defensive back. Junior Colsen Dickens will play running back, receiver and possibly at linebacker. Junior Matt Williams will likely play at middle linebacker. Junior Caleb Evans (6-3, 235) will play at a guard position and junior Ky Miller will play center.
Sophomore Logan Decker will be the team’s quarterback. Burk describes him as a “tall, tough kid” who can run the ball. Sophomore Levi Darling brings speed as a receiver and defensive back. And sophomore Tate Angel will probably play on the offensive line.
“I haven’t coached 8 man before so it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out with the kids,” Burk said. “We’ve still got to get the pads on but the cool thing is we’re getting better every day and we’re working. That’s my main thing is our kids work hard. We’ve got expectations and our theme this year is what’s important now. I tell them every day you’ve just got to get a little bit better. Our kids are very competitive and we’re really big on the brotherhood and staying focused. Nobody’s more important than each other and we’re always building each other up.”
As the season draws near, Burk is still finding out if his players can take a hit and how well they can tackle. He’s teaching basics like blocking, how to look at film and how to line up on the field.
“A lot of kids learned a lot of things throughout junior high school and elementary, all the way through they’ve learned and a lot of our kids haven’t done that so we’re learning a lot for our first year,” he said.
The Cougars won’t participate in a jamboree this year. They open the season Sept. 2 at Orrick and will also travel to Liberal, Lockwood and Jasper while hosting Greenfield, Appleton City and Norborne on their seven-game schedule.
“We’re big on our faith, big on our family and football comes third,” Burk said. “We’re building a foundation and the cool thing is every one of these kids who’s a part of it is part of the first College Heights football team. That’s really special and I’m excited to be a part of this.”
“We’ve lost some kids in the past that wanted to play football so they left in sixth or seventh grade to go to a different school,” he said. “This way we will keep some of those kids and possibly even gain a few where parents are thinking about sending kids to a private school and if their kid likes football, this would be an opportunity for them.”
