Ark Valley News - Out of the office

Out of the office
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: September 28, 2017

Football attendance streak ends

The streak is over.

Before last week, I had not missed a Valley Center High School football game — home or away, and that included a few trips to Liberal — for 12 seasons.

I was out of town Sept. 22 and couldn't see the Hornets play at Newton, a game Valley Center won. I followed the game on Twitter from a concert in Dallas my wife and I committed to going to a long time ago.

Through the end of last season, I had gone to 100 consecutive Valley Center games.

The streak ended at 103.

It made me sad.

For nine or so Fridays each fall since 2006, I knew I would be at a Valley Center football game, usually on the sidelines taking notes to write a story or sometimes in a pressbox if there was enough room or if it was raining.

I got to watch so many great kids play the sport. Many of them are now starting families of their own.

Since 2006, there have been four coaches. I liked each of them. I believe they're all coaching somewhere still. Of course, Caleb Smith is still at the helm here in Valley and is doing a remarkable job with the program.

Still, it was rarely pretty during the past decade of games. I watched 75 losses. Some of them were extremely humbling.

The very first game I went to was a 76-8 loss at Salina Central. That wasn't fun.

The first win I saw was a 20-19 victory over Wichita West. That game was played at Heights stadium. I still remember Laron Nordstedt intercepting a pass to preserve the victory and end a 20-game losing streak that spanned three seasons.

Valley had three wins the following year, beating Campus and Ark City and finishing the season with another victory over West.

The 2008 season had two wins. I remember the 54-13 homecoming victory over Campus when Stevon Kline ran for five touchdowns in a row.

After a thrilling overtime win over Ark City, Valley Center began another long losing streak (16), which included lopsided losses to many teams. The low point was a 51-0 loss to Newton during the winless 2009 season.

The streak was finally snapped during a Saturday, of all days.

The 2011 game against Circle was postponed to the next day, and I can still remember seeing Justin Holdaway kick the game-winning field goal.

Unfortunately, Valley couldn't maintain the momentum, losing the remainder of its games in 2011 and the first three of the 2012 season.

Valley Center beat Sunrise Christian Academy 52-0 in 2012 and hung on for a 14-6 victory over Eisenhower for a 2-7 record under former head coach Pat Haxton.

It wasn't enough for Haxton to keep his job.

The next season ushered in the Caleb Smith era, but it started with a whimper.

Valley struggled and went 0-8. Its fourth week was open because Sunrise didn't have an 11-man football team anymore.

The momentum was beginning, though, as the Hornets won three in 2014 and four in 2015.

And you surely remember what happened in 2016, when Valley won a regional title and played into the state quarterfinals.

I know I'll get in trouble for leaving someone out, but I have to mention some of the special players over the years. Of course, there are the ones I already highlighted — Holdaway, Kline and Nordstedt. Drew Johnson had a leg, and Jordan Echer was a great offensive lineman (and now a head coach at Bluestem).

I enjoyed watching Nathan Kruckenberg catch a football and Taylor Johnson run with one.

Jesse Ingle was an impressive defensive lineman in 2008 and 2009. D.J. Crager and Jonathan Holdaway were rocks on the offensive line.

Keaton Canaday and Braden Tormey were exciting players. Miles Balthazor was extremely versatile. There was a stretch there in 2012, I believe, when Miles never left the field. Braden Janzen was a great offensive lineman.

Of course, there was Chase Crawford, whose tackle record may stand for quite some time.

The 2016 team had a lot of special players as well.

It's fun to reminisce about Valley Center football, and 103 consecutive games weren't enough. I guess I have to start another streak with this week's homecoming game against Hays.

Chris Strunk is publisher of The Ark Valley News. Reach him at 755-0821 or news@arkvalleynews.com, or find him on Facebook.