Print Email

By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

HAYS -- Some were tearful, others in shock, when the Smith Center Redmen dropped the Class 2-1A state football title game to Centralia.

As the excitement faded Saturday, spirited Smith Center fans, who packed the Lewis Field Stadium bleachers in Hays, reflected on the end of the nation's longest high school football winning streak.

It was snapped by the Centralia Panthers, 20-12 in overtime. Smith Center's hopes for a sixth straight state title were also dashed.

"It was really quiet. There were a lot of players in tears," said Shareece Hileman, who owns Duffy's with her husband Rick. The steak house and tavern hosts "Fifth Quarter" gatherings for adults after home games.

"We love football, and when you win all the time, you get spoiled," Rick Hileman said. "We lost very gracefully. I think it went really nice."

Smith Center fans gave the players on both sides a standing ovation, he said

"It was just a good ol' Kansas football game," Rick Hileman said. "We're used to winning, but I think everybody handled it awesome."

Smith Center's lockerroom was packed, with three to four generations of families, said Joe Drape, the New York Times reporter and author who lived in Smith Center and followed the team and town through their undefeated 2008 season to a fifth straight state title. His book, "Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen," was released in August.

Head Coach Roger Barta told his players, "I don't love anybody less. I'm proud of you," Drape said. "The sun's going to come out. That was the message of all parents."

The Redmen "had some close calls, lived dangerously all year," Drape said, but somehow they conquered all opponents.

"(Barta) told them there were a couple games they won that maybe they should not have won. It finally ran out on them." Drape said.

The streak was "an incredible achievement," he said, and as for Centralia, "hats off to them."

As a Redmen fan whose family has adopted Smith Center as their "second home more or less," Drape admitted to feeling some sadness.

"My heart breaks a little, just for the seniors. What have they done, gone 54 and 1, and I know they wanted to go 55 and 0," Drape said. "I just feel bad that this was the group of guys (the streak) snapped on."

Losing was tough to take, as players told sports reporters after the game.

"This really stinks,'' said senior Colt Rogers, a two-way starter for the Redmen. "We work six years with our friends and we love each other like brothers. We know what we went through to get here and it just stinks to come out like this."

Coach Barta choked back tears in postgame interviews, saying Smith Center could start another streak next season.

"I'm proud of them," Barta said. "They did as much as they could throughout the year.''

It's back to work Monday as the Redmen, who have won three straight 2-1A state wrestling championships, begin practice on the mats. Others will focus on basketball.

"These kids aren't going to mope around," Rick Hileman said.

Saturday's loss may linger. Rogers is counting on it.

""Hopefully the younger guys will leave today with a bitter taste in their mouths and know they've got to get to work for next year,'' he said to reporters after the game.

Back home in Smith Center, the Pizza Hut restaurant was deserted, except for cook Shandy Shellito.

"The town's pretty quiet," he said.

Smith Center players always eat at Pizza Hut on the night before games, Shellito said, but not many showed Friday, possibly because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

"It was like the smallest order they'd ever had. It was just really different," he said.

Losing was bound to happen sometime, Shellito said. "It's going to be a sad deal for awhile. They did pretty good, I think, getting as far as they did."

A 1995 Smith Center graduate, Shellito said Redmen teams "didn't even come close" to the success of the past six years.

"I think they'll do better next year ... probably win the 3A title. They'll have a better team, athletic and skill wise," he said.

The team was good this year, Shareece Hileman said, "but we had a lot of younger boys playing."

The reaction to losing is not a concern, she said, although some may be "reviewing plays all night long."

Fans and parents will demonstrate their pride in them.

"I think they'll be OK by the time they get home," Shareece Hileman said. "We are good fans. We are good parents. It will not affect them."

Author Drape concurs.

"This is when I always expected when Smith Center would be its best -- when it lost," Drape said. "This has all the indications that this is what has happened."

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

Discuss This Story:

Email this story to a friend:

Subject:

Recipient:

Sender's email (required):



Enter text seen above: