Kansas Pregame Feature: Hugoton has sights set on perfect regular season
By: Robert Falkoff
For KansasPregame.com
Posted: October 28, 2009 - 10:26 PM

When Clint Merritt arrived in Hugoton four years ago to take over a football program shy on upperclassmen, there were growing pains galore. But now it's the Eagles who are putting the hurt on everybody.

“Eagle Fever” has spread from one end of this small western Kansas community to the other in 2009 as Hugoton rolled through its first eight games undefeated. The Eagles have clinched their first 4A playoff spot since 2005 and would get a first-round home date if they win at Ulysses on Oct. 29.

“This is big for our school and our community,” said Merritt, who became the head coach in 2006. “The kids have put in a lot of hard work and everybody seems to be behind them right now.”

The Eagles took significant steps last year while going 6-3. The momentum carried over to this season as Hugoton consistently ran over opponents with a split back Veer attack and a hard-nosed defense.

Among this year's senior class of 15, two started as freshmen and four more started as sophomores.

“I feel like our kids have really bought into what we're trying to do,” Merritt said. “We've got some talent now. We've been consistent as a staff. We've stayed together and stayed with what we believed was right. Anytime you can get high school kids to play hard and not make very many mistakes, you give yourself a chance to win football games.”

When this year's senior class took some lumps as freshmen and sophomores, the determination and commitment never wavered. The coaching staff didn't panic by changing offensive and defensive schemes. Now, the fruits of that labor have Hugoton fans dreaming about a first playoff victory since the mid-1980s.

“A lot of our guys have been on the field for three and four years,” Merritt said. “That kind of experience goes a long way. We certainly threw some young kids out there and told them they were going to be indoctrinated by fire.”

Caleb Gifford and Keithan Martin have been four-year starters for the Eagles. Gifford is the school's career tackler leader as a middle linebacker and also is the team's leading rusher as a fullback.

“Caleb is very consistent,” Merritt said. “Defensively, he's around the football all night long. He's very smart and understands formations and what people are trying to do. He gets himself in good position.

“Offensively, he gets the tough yards as our fullback. Caleb probably knows he's the best football player, but he doesn't act that way. He's very much a team player.”

While Gifford, Martin and fellow senior Bubba Beitz anchor a resilient defense, quarterback Zach Dunlap makes the split-second decisions that enable the Veer attack to function smoothly.

“We don't throw a great deal,” Merritt said. “We're very run-heavy. If you take away our fullback, that opens up our quarterback run or the pitch. As long as our quarterback makes good decisions, we feel like we have a good chance to make something happen on the ground. But if teams have success taking away the run, we'll throw a little bit.”

Merritt's reclamation project at Hugoton isn't his first. He previously was the head coach at Osborne High School and led that team to the playoffs in 2003. It was Osborne's first playoff appearance in 13 seasons.

Merritt began to learn the nuances of winning football as a player at Smith Center under coach Roger Barta. Merritt doesn't use the same schemes as Barta these days, but the philosophical lessons that he learned under Barta as a player from 1993 through 1996 have served him well as a high school head coach.

“Coach Barta talked about making the kids better people first and then better football players second,” Merritt said. “We really try to focus on those things. And we try to give our kids enough repetitions so that they can just go out on the field in a game and react. That's something that I remember as a player – never having to think because we were so well-prepared. We're trying to make it the same way for these kids.”