At the end of a 49-14 playoff loss in Central City, senior Andrew Namuth deconstructed the athletic tape club protecting his mangled left hand. The defensive end unraveled and unraveled as the handshake line started between teams, finishing up just in time to join in.
One of the Fort Calhoun High School football team's core values is toughness.
“That was an easy one for us to pick because that's probably the most consistent thing I've seen since I've been here,” Pioneers head coach Zach Byrd said. “The kids are tough. They're just resilient.”
Midway through a 6-4 season, FCHS' injuries started to pile up. Crutches and knee braces became commonplace on the sideline as did arm casts and slings.
Coach Byrd's starting center, Colby Bentley, watched Friday's game against the Bison from a wheelchair after midweek surgery.
“We could have easily laid down and nobody would have faulted us,” the coach said. “But our kids weren't going to give up. We fought hard.”
The Pioneers battled through as players like Trey King and Nick Kusek took on larger roles. As a result, they reached their first Class C1 playoffs since the seniors were freshmen in 2021.
“No one on this team quits,” said 12th-grade defensive back Levi Lasher, who's had his own injury struggles during the course of his career. “We had guys this season who had two surgeries and came back and played in this game.”
Namuth, who was slowed by a different impairment earlier during the fall, too, said he still progressed this year as a player.
“As a team, we'e grown a lot, too,” No. 5 said. “All the way from coaches down to the freshmen. There's just a lot more involvement. Smarter decisions.”
Lasher said it's not by accident either.
“This group, we put in the work in the weight room all four years,” he said. “We've always been told, just our senior class, that we're a special class and I'm just grateful I was apart of it.”
The Class of 2025 Pioneers finished up their run on the road, seeking their school's third-ever playoff victory.
4 quarters in Central City
Coach Byrd's coaching staff knew the Bison were going to be a handful Friday night.
“They were just really, really crisp, clean, fast and confident on offense,” the head coach said. “We could tell that on film. They played at a level that we hadn't quite seen except for, probably, Wahoo all year long.”
Central City lived up to its film Friday, too.
“You could see their confidence,” Byrd said. “They knew where they were going to go and what they were going to do — zero hesitation.”
Fort Calhoun didn't help its cause early either. After executing the game's first three offensive plays, the Pioneers had their first punt of the 2024 playoffs blocked. Central City started its ensuing possession 22 yards from the end zone and scored when Corbin Kyes finished a 3-yard run in the end zone with 8:34 still left in the opening quarter.
“It's not what we wanted to have happen,” Byrd said. “It started to kind of snowball there.”
The Bison tallied three more touchdowns during the first quarter with quarterback Parker Zikmund throwing for all three. He connected with Turner Hanke twice from 36 and 54 yards before a 5-yard toss to Kyes for a 28-0 lead.
FCHS appeared to be in trouble, but a tough running back got it back on track. Kaiden Rodriguez, back from a broken forearm with another cast of athletic tape from elbow to wrist, earned the Pioneers' first first down of the game with 1:11 still left before the second quarter.
“Really, really happy for him that he was able to come back from his injury earlier,” Byrd said. “It was encouraging to our guys this week in practice knowing that he was going to be able to run the ball a little bit.”
Rodriguez — who played against Douglas County West without carrying the ball — secured another first down to start the second quarter, rumbling down to the Bison 28 yard line.
“He ran like he hadn't run the ball in five weeks and had missed it,” Byrd said.
Still, though, Fort Calhoun found itself in a 4th-down situation at the 18 yard line near the end of the drive. It took a timeout to set up a play, though junior quarterback Adam Elofson ad-libbed instead. He scrambled for the first down first, but kept going, scoring on the play.
Chase Bierman's extra-point kick pulled the Pioneers within 28-7.
Coach Byrd's team would get closer, too. It started its next offensive drive at the 20-yard line and put together an 80-yard possession. Elofson connected on key, long throws to both Eli Tinkham and Blake Welchert before Welchert took an option pitch from his QB and scored from 1-yard out.
Next, the Pioneers' Dylan Keyser made a tackle in the backfield as Central City started its last drive of the half. The Bison didn't slow down, though, and drove downfield before FCHS junior Kade Foy made his second-straight interception in the end zone to thwart the threat. He'd made his first pick in the same spot earlier, setting up Calhoun's second scoring drive.
“(Foy) did a really good job of just trusting in himself and being confident in his abilities,” Byrd said, noting how the defensive back was tasked with covering Central City's best receiving target — Wyatt Dent.
Altogether, after their miserable start, the Pioneers only trailed 28-14 going into halftime.
“We were able to get some stops in the second quarter,” Byrd said. “(Able to) put the ball in the end zone a little bit and get it to a manageable point where we felt, if we could get a stop to start the third quarter and move the ball again — put it in the end zone — we'd have a chance to play with them the rest of the way.”
Fort Calhoun earned its third-straight stop to start the third quarter, forcing a turnover on downs, but Central City stepped up defensively, too. It allowed the Pioneers one first down on the ensuing possession, but made Byrd choose to punt.
With the ball back at home, Zikmund threw his fourth of what eventually became five touchdown passes. It covered 15 yards to Dent and gave Central City a 35-14 third-quarter lead. The advantage grew to the final 35-point margin with two fourth-quarter touchdowns, ending the Pioneers' season.
Afterward, Byrd and company talked “toughness.”
Playing together
Fort Calhoun's coach has now spent two seasons with Namuth. He's well aware what the senior is capable of when healthy.
“I would have liked to have seen what Andrew could have done with his hand,” Byrd said. “Some of those tackles, he's usually grabbing ankles and legs and stuff. You could tell there was a couple of plays where his club just didn't allow him to do that.”
Even so, No. 5 and his teammates toughed it out. They showed how they felt with their effort.
“It meant something to them to be apart of this team as opposed to just playing in the game,” Byrd said. “It meant more than just playing this game. It meant playing with each other another week.”
Namuth was proud to compete alongside his fellow seniors one last time, noting how he's know most of them since he was 5 years old.
“Max (Halford) was my neighbor,” he said. “I've known since I was born.”
It's been a long ride, for sure.
“Backyard football all the way to this,” Namuth said wth his injured hand now club-free.
No. 5 CENTRAL CITY 49, No. 12 FORT CALHOUN 14
FCHS (6-4) 0 14 0 0 — 14
CC (9-1) 28 0 7 14 — 49
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
CC: Corbin Kyes 3-yard run, Will Poland PAT
CC: Turner Hanke 36-yard pass from Parker Zikmund, Poland PAT
CC: Hanke 54-yard pass from Zikmund, Poland PAT
CC: Kyes 5-yard pass from Zikmund, Poland PAT
Second Quarter
FC: Adam Elofson 18-yard run, Chase Bierman PAT
FC: Blake Welchert 1-yard run, Bierman PAT
Third Quarter
CC: Wyatt Dent 15-yard pass from Zikmund, Poland PAT
Fourth Quarter
CC: Kyes 8-yard run, Poland PAT
CC: Hanke 23-yard pass from Zikumund, Poland PAT
