After years of competing together, Clarkson and Leigh will face off against each other on the football field Friday night.
The two high schools, seven miles apart along Highway 91, spent 14 years competing as a co-op. That ended this year thanks to a unanimous vote from the Leigh Community Schools Board of Education.
Clarkson head coach Jim Clarkson said after some reflection, he’s excited for the rivalry to return.
“It’s definitely everyone wants to win, everyone wants to be the top dog and have those bragging rights,” Clarkson told NebPreps. “It’s fun to have this rival back. It’s not what we had thought it was going to be, but it is what it is, and we’re going to roll with it.”
The Clarkson school board’s decision came after a decrease in student participation in athletics. Members talked to several of Leigh’s students who agreed with the separation. Leigh first year head coach Jarrod Bazata said his main focus was the players’ feelings.
“I just kind of had a conversation with some of those boys, and just said like, ‘No matter what happens, I’m still going to be your coach, whether we stay together or we split off,’” Bazata said. “’If there’s anything that you guys need at all, come and talk to me. If there’s certain ways that you’re feeling, that kind of stuff, I’m an open book. You can come and talk to me whenever you want to.’”
The Coyotes have taken a different approach. Clarkson said the team has not talked about the change as much.
“At the end of the day, no one wants to be told you’re not good enough, right?” Clarkson said. “It feels good to be wanted, and when you’re not wanted, it kind of hurts, and that’s kind of where the Clarkson kids are. We were the ones that were told, ‘No thanks, we don’t want to play with you anymore.’”
The schools split and embarked on their own journeys this fall in the new Class D3, with both teams heading into Friday’s meeting with a 3-1 record. The only loss for Clarkson (ranked 21st in the NebPreps Power Ratings) only loss came against Weeping Water, while Leigh (ranked 16th) fell to Osceola.
Now, the two schools will play one another for the first time since 2012.
Although many of the players have played together, the Leigh Panthers are heading into the contest with the mindset of it being just another game.
“We’ve got to let that build, but at the same time, we can’t overthink this,” Bazata said. “I told the boys, ‘They’re just another team that we have to play.’ There trying to beat us, and we’re trying to beat them.”
That’s exactly what each team will do in a game that’s sure to be full of emotions for both sides despite the approach heading in.
“We keep stressing to the boys that it doesn’t matter who comes out there, we have to play the same way each way,” Bazata said. “So we need to just make sure that we keep our emotions in check and kind of just go out and play our style of football.”
That style is smash-mouth, run the ball down the opponent’s throat football.
“We want to be that small town powerhouse school that nobody wants to play,” Bazata said. “So we’re just kind of week by week, and practice by practice, we’re just chipping away and trying to instill that into the kids.”
The Coyotes also feature a heavy rush attack, but they do so in a variety of different ways. Clarkson will look to use the multiplicity of its run game against Leigh as their coaches prepare them for the matchup.
“It does come down to just try and win each play, try and focus on what we can focus, control what we can control, all the coach speak there,” Clarkson said. “That’s the true part of it. Don’t get wrapped up in the emotions of the fans or the parents too much.”
Both teams will try to put their emotions aside in front of a packed crowd at Leigh Stadium Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT.
“This small-town Friday night football is one of a kind,” Bazata said. “It’s hard to explain, but once you get here and you’re in a small-town, 8-man, Friday night football game, you’ll know.”
