Why Kickapoo football could challenge for an Ozark Conference title this season

Among the first snaps during Kickapoo's defensive series during Friday night's jamboree segments against Ozark, the Tigers took the snap and were very quickly met in the backfield by a big hit from Paxton Wehner.

Despite the many graduations on the defensive side of the ball, Kickapoo defenderes swarmed to the ball all night. It looked like a unit that was determined to not take a step back after having one of the best defenses in the state a year ago.

The biggest surprise came on the offensive side of the ball.

A group that had its struggles last season against the better teams on its schedule moved the ball consistently. Speed at the wide receiver position, combined with a focused quarterback, gave Kickapoo the look of an offense that could make noise in the Ozark Conference this season.

"We know how fast we need to be," head coach Nate Thomas said. "We need to turn that into something that's an advantage for us on Friday nights and our guys have done a great job buying into our system and how we train."

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Thomas noticed where Kickapoo needed to improve following its 21-10 loss to Lee's Summit West in the first round of the Class 6 state playoffs last season. His team was dominant all year defensively – allowing zero touchdown passes all season – but the offense struggled in their three losses by scoring an average of 13.7 points per game.

His first move was to address the team's speed. In previous years, Thomas and Kickapoo's track coach have attended a track-football consortium that focuses on turning kids into multi-sport athletes and improving their speed for both sports.

The program has done wonders. The speed was on display with wideouts Shaun Campbell, Trey Christian and Brandon Davis.

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"It's pretty easy when I look to my right and left that I just see guys that know how to do the right thing," starting quarterback Chase Hamme said. "They do it every time and they do more than that. They're going to make plays and score touchdowns."

Another change came with an addition to Thomas' offensive staff. Aaron Wells, who served as Nixa's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under John Perry, is now the offensive coordinator for Kickapoo.

"He's brought in these concepts and splits and things I don't run, to be honest with you," Thomas said. "But he's come over and he's convinced me and he's done a great job of getting us into a spot where he puts our athletes out in space and just lets us make plays."

Also complimentary of Wells is Hammes, a senior, who takes over the starting job.

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The quarterback remembered forgetting something in the locker room as he was returning from a baseball game. He shot Thomas a text asking if he was still around, to which he was told, "No." In a surprise follow-up text from his head coach, Hamme read, "QB1."

"He texted me saying, 'I can't see you right now but I know you're smiling through that phone,'" Hamme said. "He was right."

Hamme started last season in a loss to co-Ozark Conference champion Camdenton in which Kickapoo led for the majority of the game. Hamme said he learned the offense just needs to keep the pedal to the floor for the entirety of the game and good things will happen.

The summer had its fair share of drama at the Kickapoo quarterback position but Hamme isn't afraid to throw it deep or throw the ball across the middle of the field. With playmakers all around him, he knows he just needs to make the correct reads and put the ball in a spot his guys can get it.

"I feel relieved that I get my opportunity," Hamme said. "My job is to make the most of it and that's what I'm going to try to do."

Kickapoo starts its regular season Friday night at Hillcrest before visiting Camdenton and hosts Lebanon — two of the toughest games on the schedule and its two regular-season losses a year ago.

With the changes to Kickapoo's offense, and if the defense is anything close to what it was a year ago, it could be a challenger in the Ozark Conference and beyond.

"These guys have sat there and put in their time and they've developed and gotten better at their craft," Thomas said. "They're kind of reaping the rewards right now but we've still got a long way to go. We got some stuff to fix but we definitely came out and saw what we needed to see today for where we're at."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Kickapoo High School football looks ready to take next step