Spartans will host Rockets for season opener

Under Exira-EHK head football coach Drew Buckholdt in his first year as head coach, the Spartans managed to earn a 6-4 record, earning an 8-Player – First Round 30-16 victory over the Glidden Ralston Wildcats, but ending their season 44-28 against Bedford in the 8-Player – Second Round.
However, despite losing eight seniors from the prior season, they are ready to get back to work and make another strong run, starting with a scrimmage that took place Friday night against Glidden-Ralston at home.
“We’re very excited for this scrimmage,” Buckholdt said. “I know the kids are excited to hit somebody else other than themselves, so it’s going to be a good test for us. We’re excited to see what we can do, excited to fly around, make plays, and most importantly have some fun.”
The Spartans opened last season with a close 46-44 loss to the Ar-We-Va Rockets on the road, but followed that game with a dominant home victory against Stanton.
“Every year is a new year,” Buckholdt said of last year’s loss. “They’re going to be a tough opponent right away. I’m glad we play them right away because they returned a lot of their kids, so it’s going to be a nice early test for us and we’ll see where we stand. I think the kids are going to be excited.”
Some of the other victories the Spartans earned came against Sidney, Fremont Mills, East Mills, and Griswold.
Offensively, they were led by Senior quarterback Jameson Kilworth with 1,301 passing yards and 973 rushing yards, along with Senior wide receiver Cash Emgarten with 664 receiving yards. Defensively, Junior Alex Hansen had 76 tackles.
“Jameson’s brother Josten [Kilworth] will fill in for us at quarterback,” Buckholdt said. “Alex and Bryce [Brabham] will fill in a little for Cash. Those are kind of the three main ball carriers that we have. They’re all just really good kids and do what we ask. They’re hard workers. They all do several different things.”
Some of the Spartans losses other than Ar-We-Va came against Audubon and CAM during the regular season.
“CAM and Fremont are probably the top two teams within the conference,” Buckholdt added. “You also Sidney and Griswold returning a lot. Each week will be a difficult task for us. Each week winning the line of scrimmage is going to be important and limiting turnovers.”