By Dean Backes
MaxPreps.com
Southern Boone High School football players were armed with more than duffle bags as they arrived for their first day of two-a-day practices last week. They made their entrance with sleeping bags, airbeds, twin mattresses, cots, radios, Xboxes and whatever else they turned to for enjoyment.
In keeping up with his own tradition, head coach Kevin Hixson decided to lock down the 40 players that arrived so they could eat, sleep and drink football for five days in preparation for the 2007 season.
"I was just trying to keep it simple," the second-year coach said as he discussed the origins of Hixson-style fall football camps. "It's frustrating especially when you're dealing with rural kids. You set a time and their parents make sure they're there at practice at 3:30. Then they have to turn around and bring them back in at seven o'clock."
Hixson began his practice back in the mid-1990s when he was head coach at Gallatin (Mo.) High School. After a two-year stint at Dana College in Nebraska, Hixson resurrected his tradition in the fall of 2002.
It's during these hot, muggy days in August that Hixson is able to lay the foundation for a well-oiled, cohesive football team in the halls of Southern Boone High School.
"We were able to bring the kids together," the coach said of the camps benefits. "We were able to build team unity. I could stress leadership qualities with the seniors. I put in the time, as well, so they could see me do it. We were all in the same boat so to speak."
Eagle players and coaches set up camp in the hallways at the south end of the school. "It looked like dorm rooms or army barracks or something," Hixson said.
When Hixson arrived for his initial season a year ago, he had little time to work his magic, so he had to forego the camp for a year. But after a lot of legwork, this year, Hixson was able to bring the community together.
The town's restaurants, including a local McDonalds, either donated food or gave it to the players and coaches at a discounted rate. Meanwhile, Eagle player's parents and fans worked hard to ensure a smooth running camp.
According to Hixson, he and the rest of the coaching staff scheduled practices to avoid the heat. When practices weren't in session, he said the coaches and players spent most of their waking hours watching game film together, or going over the day's lessons on the chalkboard.
The camp began at 8 a.m. on August 6 and let out at 9:30 a.m. that Saturday following a 24-play scrimmage.
"We saw some good things," Hixson said of the season's first scrimmage, "but we expected better. We did have better practices than last year at this time. But a lot of that could be the fact that the players already had a year in the system. Part of it, too, may have been some of the things that we did in the off season."
Football: MSHSAA Moves 8-Man Championship to St. Louis
Perseverance finally paid off for Worth County High school football coach Chuck Borey, and all other Missouri 8-Man football coaches, players and fans earlier this summer. Thanks to Borey's resilience, the state's small school football division will get to play its championship game in the St. Louis Edward Jones Dome following the 2008 and 2009 seasons, alongside the six other classifications.
It appears that the 2008 8-Man championship will be played on the Friday following Thanksgiving. The 2009 contest is slated for Thanksgiving weekend as well.
Following the 2009-2010 campaign, the MSHSAA will decide whether or not the game should be played in St. Louis permanently. This year's championship is scheduled to be played at Missouri Western State's Spratt Stadium in St. Joseph for what some hope will be the last time.
Borey, whose team has lost in the past two 8-Man championship games to St. Joseph Christian (62-26) in 2005 and Mound City (42-0) last season, has been fighting the battle for the past three or four years. Even when the MSHSAA board of directors voted down a similar proposal a couple of years ago, Borey stayed with his cause.
"We just wanted to be represented the same as 11-Man, and also be able to showcase 8-Man," Borey told the Jefferson City News Tribune. "
"There's a lot of people in this state that don't even know we have 8-Man football," he added. "We're hoping taking it to the Dome will help it spread."
The 8-Man football championship has been played the week before Thanksgiving in recent years. Missouri's 8-Man division is home to 20 high schools.
Golf: Long Earns Second Win of Junior Golf Season
Jace Long continued his winning ways last week by wrapping up the championship of the Bass Pro Shops/Payne Stewart Junior Golf Championship with a 2-under par 70 final round at The Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield (Mo.). The win was his second of the 2007 American Junior Golf Season.
Long, who opened the tournament with a 6-under par 66, defeated Bradley Moody, of Jefferson City (Mo.), by four shots with his 208 54-hole effort.
"It was fun," Long told the Springfield News-Leader. "This is the most comfortable I've been all summer. I wish I could have putted a little bit better, but I hit the ball so good. Before I hit the shot I knew exactly what it was going to do."
The Dixon (Mo.) senior tied for medalist honors last spring, as a junior, at the Missouri Class 2 State Golf Championships with Jordan McLaurin (Arcadia Valley) and Tucker Perkins (South Harrison) when all three fired 36-hole totals of 4-over par 148. With Long's help, Dixon finished second nine strokes behind team champion Ash Grove.
Long won the 2007 Houchens Industries Junior Open by four shots on June 25 for his first win of the junior golf season over Joe David of Madison (TN.) with a 54-hole total of 214 at The Club at Olde Stone in Alvaton (KY.). He also finished in a tie for second at the 2007 Midwest Junior Players Championship at Hawthorne Woods Country Club in Hawthorne Woods (Ill.). Long's 54-hole total of 209 was five shots behind St. Louis' Scott Langley. Jack Schultz, of Whitefish Bay (WI.) also fired a 209.
With nine tournaments under his belt for the 2007 season, Long is ranked 50th, out of 998 golfers, in the latest Polo Golf Rankings.
