Undefeated Wildcats near berth in state playoffs

MORAN — It’s been a journey nine years in the making, one yard at a time.
It started in third grade when several of Marmaton Valley High’s current senior class joined a youth football league in Chanute.
A year later, they jumped at the chance when Moran formed its own team as part of the Allen County Youth Tackle Football League.
By the time the students reached middle school, they already had become familiar with one another on the gridiron.
Now as high school seniors, they’re ready to try for the pinnacle — the state playoffs.
“They’ve got football savvy,” Wildcat head coach Kent Houk said of his veteran squad.
They’ve also got a devastating mixture of power up front and speed in the backfield.
Triggered by the team’s mammoth offensive line, Marmaton Valley has averaged more than 300 rushing yards and 50 points per game, en route to a 7-0 start.
The Wildcats are virtually ensured of a playoff berth with two games left in the regular season, including a highly anticipated matchup Oct. 25 against unbeaten St. Paul to wrap up district play.
But nobody is looking that far ahead.
While several around town have asked about the St. Paul showdown, Houk has only one thing on his mind — Friday night’s game against Yates Center.
That Yates Center is winless on the season matters nothing, Houk said.
“Yates Center has some talented playmakers,” he said. “All they have to do is put it together.”
He noted Yates Center trailed by only two points against St. Paul last week at halftime, more than enough evidence to keep Marmaton Valley’s attention focused on this week.
“It’s when you start thinking about other things, like what could happen, that you lose focus and things start going wrong,” senior offensive lineman Nathan Smart said.

SMART, AT 6-5 and 260 pounds, is the anchor of Marmaton Valley’s strong-as-an-ox offensive line. Houk frequently cites Smart as the catalyst for the team’s powerful running game.
But it’s more than brute strength that paves the way for the Wildcats’ speedy runners.
Technique, particularly with footwork and proper balance, are stressed throughout the offseason, while weight-lifting sessions have a heavy emphasis on flexibility, Houk said.
“Nathan’s our biggest player, but the rest of our offensive line averages about 170 pounds,” Houk said. “And we’ve got four or five kids who can squat 500 pounds or more.”
The backs and receivers have more than enough speed to take it from there.
Spearheaded by senior backs Cole Becker and his 1,400 yards through six games (he didn’t play a snap in one contest) and Daylen Houk, perhaps the fastest player on the team (600 yards rushing), Marmaton Valley has proven adept at scoring from long, methodical drives or quick-strike scores.
Coordinating the attack is quarterback Ryan Smith, who has rushed for 400 yards while tossing the occasional touchdown pass in instances when opposing defense overplay their hand and crowd the line of scrimmage.
All can run 40 yards in under 4.6 seconds — fast enough to keep up with all but the fastest college players in America.

COACH HOUK credits his team’s success to a healthy combination of getting along, yet remaining competitive on the field.
“That’s the key,” the coach said. “They really get after each other in practice, yet these same kids are the same ones hanging out together in the parking lot afterward.”
Nothing exemplifies the competitive spirit as much as the famed “Big Cat” tackle drill, made famous by the Louisiana State University Tigers football team.
The drill features a one-on-one blocking drill in which the offensive player must maintain his block while the defender does everything in his power to break the block, then race five yards downfield and tackle a ball-carrier.
“It takes a psycho mentality,” Daylen Houk, Coach Houk’s son, said.
“The offensive linemen love it,” said Kent Houk, Daylen’s father. “The defenders, not so much.”
Smith was a little more blunt: “It sucks.”
Coach Houk ran the drill every day during the preseason, which has paid off handsomely once the regular season started.
“Conditioning has been a factor in the fourth quarter,” the coach said, citing Marmaton Valley’s comeback win over Crest High. The Wildcats scored 24 points in the fourth quarter, a 46-42 win.

WITH ONLY two games left in the regular season, then playoffs a likelihood, the team must remain wary of looking too far down the road, their coach said.
“We respect everybody we play,” he said. “We aren’t looking past anybody.”
But the playoffs still remain the team’s goal.
“That’s our ultimate goal,” Becker said. “That’s where we want to be.”