August 27, 2024
Football
Head coach Chris Caskey has coached a long time. He’s had good offensive and defensive schemes that work, and his teams have won a lot of games. He doesn’t waver much from those schemes, but he’s not afraid to tweak things, either. A recent trend in his philosophy has been to make things simpler for his team—get them to react quickly using their natural athletic ability more—and think less. This season he’s applying that to the offensive line.
“At the snap of the ball, if the play is going to the right or left, everybody that is blocking, that’s not a puller, they’re going 30 degrees downhill and hitting the first opposite colored jersey they see,” said the coach. “With the offense we’ve run for the past 8 years, we never see a traditional defense. It is some sort of gimmick; blitzing linebackers, more guys on the line. We were trying to block things like a traditional defense. When we saw more people, we’d have to make all kinds of adjustments and changes. If we all block down at 30 degrees, except for the people that are pulling, we’re going to accidentally run into something.”
The Cardinals have had their share of talented running backs over the years, and the backfield will be good again in 2024. But the running game starts in the trenches. The success of the offense will depend on a young, quick, and athletic line. Keegan Long, Keeghen Reed, and Corbin Etter are returning starters from last season. They’ll be joined by Konnar Stiles, Zane Diersen, Ty Conry, Aidan Kaster, Brady Steward, and A.J. Dunsky in a rotation designed to keep guys fresh.
“We’re going to do a better job of resting people,” said Coach Caskey. “We have enough depth that offensively and defensively on the line, we can rest somebody a series and bring somebody else in.”
Coach Caskey simplified the offense—his version of the single wing—last season, with fewer handoffs, more direct snaps, and plenty of misdirection and deception. Technically, the backfield consists of two halfbacks, a fullback, and a wingback.
“We’re going to utilize all 4 running backs,” said the coach. “We want to make sure everything looks the same at the beginning of a play, but the other team doesn’t know who’s getting the football.”
Of the two halfbacks, Caleb Smith fits that term more traditionally, while Blake Reynolds is more of a ‘quarterback.’ But both will run; and both might pass. With 1,297 yards last season, Smith is the 3rd-leading returning rusher in Class A this season.
Smith is big, fast, and hard to bring down.
“He sees the field really well. He understands leverage,” said Coach Caskey. “He also understands when to spin. He feels contact and automatically spins, or stiff arms, or makes a cut at the last second.”
Reynolds threw for 651 yards in 2023. He only ran the ball 31 times, but should get more carries this season.
“He is a lot like having another coach on the field,” said Coach Caskey. “He sees things and communicates really well with the coaches. He communicates well with players.”
Josh Winey will be the fullback this season and Dallas Canoyer will be the wingback. Neither player is very big, but they are both rugged, fast, and have an indomitable wrestling mentality that serves them well on the football field.
Several of the top tacklers from last year are gone, and Blaine Tiedemann, another good defensive player, is out for the season due to a knee injury. Multiple players will need to fill those roles.
“I think it’s going to take a couple games for that guy to step up and say, ‘Okay, I’m going to play physical.’ I think we have some guys that play physical, and it’s just going to take a couple games to get up to game speed and figure out, ‘Okay, I can do this.’ And then they’ll get more aggressive and more aggressive.”
Like with the offense, the key to the Cardinal defense is simplicity.
“You have one or two jobs. Just do those and keep your responsibility,” said Coach Caskey. “And if all 11 guys do their job, then the defense should be sound. And we’re going to give up a lot of yards between the 20s—we always do—but then in that time, they’re going to get a penalty; we’re going to get a turnover; something is going to happen that will give us a 3rd and long where now we can attack a little bit and get the ball back.”
The Cardinals have been good at special teams for a long time—especially with onside kicks. The onside kicks are so engrained in the culture now that even the junior high-aged managers were working on them at a recent practice. They are high risk/high reward. The Cardinals recover their fair share of them, and when they don’t, Coach Caskey has confidence in his defense to hold the other team on a short field.
“It’s hard for a coach, with the crowd seeing what they see on Saturdays and Sundays, to stick with it,” he said. “Because every time you don’t get one, you have a few people in the stands that just can’t imagine that you’re doing it. To begin with, it was kind of a gimmick deal, but we stuck with it. We used to have guys that weren’t starters on special teams. Now we put physical guys that can’t wait to get the ball back on special teams. It’s another aspect of your game that people have to prepare for.”
A good and balanced district, which includes AC/GC, South Central Calhoun, and Oakland, Riverside, will be difficult to navigate. The two non-district opponents, Central Decatur and Madrid, are also tough opponents.
Coach Caskey is assisted by Cory Houghton, Brian Sheffield, Kaden Howard, Cory Thompson, and Andrew Evans.
Volleyball
There has been a ton of energy and enthusiasm at pre-season practices so far, and along with that, a lot of noise. Good noise, though. A lot of talk. A lot of chatter. A lot of encouragement. All coming from the Cardinal players.
“One of our goals this year was ‘voice’—just to be loud in the gym,” said Coach Harskamp. “Just being good communicators. We talk about how good communicators make good teammates, and that equals success. It doesn’t take much to talk them into doing it. Even the young ones. I think our gym has always been fairly energetic, but this year’s a whole other level.”
The Cardinals hope that ‘voice’ can help them make some noise in the standings—and eventually the playoffs—this year, as well. They have a solid group of returners from a team that went 21-13 a year ago, as well as a talented crop of underclassmen that have been pushing the older kids in early practices. Many of this year’s players are veterans of Earlham Volleyball Club, the off-season program, so Coach Harskamp has noticed an uptick in their skill level and knowledge. That means practices have been more efficient and she can get into advanced drills and strategy more quickly.
“They already know the system,” said the coach. “It’s just fine-tuning things, and that’s an easy thing to do. They have the basics. Last week was a lot about reviewing the fundamentals and defensive assignments, talking about our offense. This week we’re starting to move a little more to where we’re ready to compete. Just throwing in some more offensive things and fine tuning some of the things that we’ll need for next week, competition wise.”
What the 2024 Cardinals lack in height, they hope they can make up with in athleticism.
“We’re definitely going to be a defensive team,” said Coach Harskamp. “Of course, our kids can hit, but we never seem to get the height.”
Seniors Kenady Ridout (5’7”) and Presley Koberg (5’8”) will anchor the front line. They were 2nd and 3rd on the team, respectively, in kills last season. Ridout is athletic and aggressive.
“She’s a strong kid and is going to go 100% all the time,” said Coach Harskamp. “She’s done a really good job. We went to Johnston last Thursday and scrimmaged against some pretty good teams and she did really well.”
Some talented juniors will make up the core of the team.
“Last year, they were like, ‘Okay, we’re going to come in and fill a few spots.’ Now, it’s, ‘This is our team now. For the next couple years, we’re going to drive that.’”
Kenna Harskamp and Ava Harris will share setting duties, like they did last season. For their size (5’5”), they are both good hitters, too. They are savvy players that will serve as good quarterbacks for the team.
“Confidence wise, they’re a step up from last year,” said Coach Harskamp. “I think they were growing into that role last year. They definitely haven’t reached their peak yet, which is good. I feel like they have the same brain sometimes. They kind of know what the other is going to do.”
Junior Ally Presler is good player that should be ready to take the next step. Sophomore Piper Koberg played well for the JV team last season and also got some varsity time. She looks taller and stronger this year and should contribute.
“She’s playing taller, for sure,” said Coach Harskamp. “She definitely grew. Just strength wise, you can tell, she’s gained a ton since last year. And confidence. She worked a lot over the winter and in the spring. She played some sand stuff this summer. She’s just gotten better.”
Juniors CeCe Stanley and Savannah Charlet, along with sophomore Peyton Tiemeyer, should see some action on the back line, while freshmen Eden Forcht and Zoey Nixt might get some playing time on the front line.
Thirty girls are out for volleyball this year, including 12 freshmen. The Cards will have two JV teams again this season.
Coach Harskamp is assisted by Camryn Caskey and Kelcie Hale.
Cross Country
work hard at practice last week.
The Cardinal boys’ and girls’ cross country teams are starting the season where they would like to finish it. In the pre-season rankings by the Iowa Track Coaches Association, the Earlham boys are ranked #2 and the girls are #3 in Class 1A. With a slew of good returning runners on both teams, the athletes are clear about their expectations for 2024—they want to finish on the podium in Fort Dodge on November 2.
The rankings are nice, of course, but in the end, they are just someone’s opinion. Rest assured; the Cardinals won’t be sitting back admiring their lofty spots in the polls—they’ll be working to prove the predictions were correct.
“They know that they have the potential to do it,” said Coach Dalton. “I think that’s why we had such great numbers this summer.”
Team attendance was strong for the optional summer workouts which began in June and continued for 10 weeks. Coaches can’t ‘coach’ during this period, but they can provide the kids with a schedule. Most of the morning runs are designed to help with endurance, but there are some speed sessions as well. Again, it’s the kids’ choice to run or not. But in Earlham, they know that doing the extra work gets them to where they want to be.
“They get in the mindset that consistency is key,” said Coach Braet. “If you’re going to be a good runner, you have to be consistent. So a lot of them were consistent this summer. They’re more fit.”
That kind of culture has been prevalent with Earlham cross country for many years. Most of the kids on the teams now have been a part of some degree of varsity success. Before that, they watched the older kids putting in the work and bringing home trophies. In many ways, the work ethic is engrained in the program—the kids pass it on to each other. But the coaches still have to set the tone.
“You have to help maintain that culture, otherwise it’s going to go away,” said Coach Braet. “You have to encourage it and try to develop leaders that will get the other kids to do what it takes.”
The Cardinal boys return the top 5 runners and 6 of the 7 from the team that finished 7th at the state meet last season. The order of finish for the Cardinals at state was Dawson Braet, Donovan Braet, David Nichols, Carson Maly, and Blake Tiemeyer. At most meets last season, the Cardinals ran in a fairly tight pack together, and different athletes shared ‘top runner’ honors. That might be the case again this year—although everyone is a little faster in 2024.
“We’ve had different workouts, and at different times, it looks like, ‘Oh he might be the guy,’” said Coach Braet. “But then 2 days later, it’s somebody else. I don’t know that we have a clear-cut top runner.”
“There might be somebody who emerges,” added Coach Dalton. “We had a really tight pack of 5 last year, but right now it looks like we have 6, and 7 and 8 aren’t that far behind. There’s depth there and they’re definitely better than they were last year.”
Newcomer Griffin Messer, a junior, is in the mix. He competed for ADM the past two years. Senior Blake Petersen will also push to be in the Cardinals’ top 5, as will a handful of talented underclassmen.
The Cardinal girls will return 4 of the top 5 runners from a team that finished 4th at state last year: Mackenzie Harger, Hannah Frank, CeCe Stanley, and Taylor Rodgers. Returning to the team is junior Amanda Smith, who missed last season due to a Lisfranc injury. Harger, Smith, and Frank were in the top 5 of the Cardinal team that won the state title two years ago. Harger finished 5th overall in that race. Frank emerged as the top Cardinal runner last year, though she was slowed by an injury late in the season. Smith appears to be 100% healthy and she will challenge to be the #1. Stanley is a hard worker that splits her time as a member of the Cardinal volleyball team. Rodgers is an excellent athlete that just keeps getting better at every sport.
This season, the coaches are committed to helping the kids fuel their bodies better. Ellen Davis, a nutritionist and founder of The Performance Collective, has presented to the Cardinal teams in person and also via Zoom on multiple occasions. The Performance Collective’s philosophy is that many of today’s student athletes are overtrained and undernourished, and they work with parents, athletes, and coaches to create a more efficient training plan that includes proper nutrition. That doesn’t mean only eating food that is good for you, but eating it at the right time.
“One of her big things is consuming something within an hour of working out,” said Coach Dalton. “Kids probably didn’t do that in the past. I’m pretty sure they just jumped out of bed and tried to run. We’re seeing a lot of success from just consuming 15-30 calories beforehand. She’s been good at giving them strategies like, ‘Here’s how you make sure you have a snack available. Making a snack pack, and what are some things to throw in it and have available.’”
The coaches have already noticed a difference in some of their kids, and are eager to see how the plan affects the team over the course of the season.
“Nutrition is the game changer for any athletics, I think,” said Coach Dalton.
“That and sleep,” added Coach Braet. “If you can get them to sleep enough.”
“I don’t think the training has changed a lot,” said Coach Dalton. “It’s the extras, like those kinds of things, that can make a huge impact.”
Coaches Braet and Dalton are assisted by Jon Peterson.
Earlham Echo 
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