Time off good for Hampton

There are two sides to every forfeit.

Fortunately, due to a lack of occurrences, that hasn't become a sports cliché.

But there's truth to it.

Last week Heartland Lutheran had to forfeit its scheduled football game against Hampton after a rash of injuries left the team with the minimum eight players available.

It was a tough situation for Heartland Lutheran. The Red Hornets didn't want to forfeit, but they had no other option.

But it was also a tough situation for Hampton. The Class D-2 No. 7-rated Hawks didn't want to win without stepping out onto the field.

Having a football-free Friday night isn't a usual thing in October.

"It was very weird," Hampton coach Jason Kohtz said. "You are used to being in the grind. When Monday came around and we knew we weren't playing, our first practice of the week felt flat."

Kohtz decided to make the best of the situation, which led to the Hawks officially improving to 6-0.

"We worked on a lot of things that we normally wouldn't have time for during a game week," he said. "We worked on some fundamentals and on some of our weaknesses.

"The kids were able to get refreshed with the week off."

A week off from a game didn't mean that the Hawks took it easy. The team practiced all five days and, although practices may have been shorter than during a game week, they weren't any lighter.

"We treated it more like a two-a-days (practice)," Kohtz said. "I thought we were in good shape, and I wasn't going to let us fall out of shape. We moved our conditioning up to twice of what we normally do (during a game week)."

Instead of coaching on Friday night, Kohtz took advantage of the forfeit by watching Litchfield, the Hawks' next opponent, in person instead of having to rely on film.

Hampton faces Litchfield (2-4) and Sargent (5-1) to close out what has been a great regular season so far.

"Right now I'm pretty pleased," Kohtz said. "We're 6-0 and we played two quality opponents. We were faced with some adversity in both of those games against Lawrence-Nelson and Pleasanton, and both times we did what we needed to do to win the game. Our depth is starting to develop."

As expected, Hampton's running game has been tough to stop. Alex Dose has 762 yards and 15 touchdowns on 96 carries.

"We're going to rely on our running game with Alex carrying the ball," Kohtz said. "He's having a great year. His strength is a lot better and he's more durable. He has good vision and quickness and knows how to read a hole."

Dose has added a 29.8 yard average on punt returns and a team-high 49 tackles as a linebacker.

"He's become a more complete player," Kohtz said. "On special teams, there are games where we only see punts out of bounds and squib kicks. He has four touchdowns (on returns), so people want to avoid him.

"At linebacker is where he has improved the most. He is tackling well."

While some games see the Hawks pass once a quarter, Kohtz feels the team has a hidden asset in its passing game.

"The biggest thing is people don't know that we can throw effectively," he said. "We'll have to open our playbook the next few weeks. We have a great quarterback and two good receivers."

Hampton hopes its return to the field this week is the first of many games left in the season.

"We set some goals," Kohtz said. "We want to go 8-0 and win our district. I'm not going to lie -- we want to play in Lincoln. We set the bar high, and that's what you should do.

"We want to make a playoff run. Right now we're in a good position. We are pretty healthy. Alex had 280 carries in 10 games last year, and right now he's at 96. He hasn't taken the beating he did last year."



Game on?

In positive news, it appears that Heartland Lutheran's forfeit might turn out to be only a one week occurrence.

Red Hornet coach David Plond said the team had "between nine and 10" available players to start the week and "could be as high as 11 by Tuesday."

An official decision about whether to play this week's scheduled game at North Loup-Scotia will be made on Tuesday, but Plond thought it was "95 percent that it'll be a go."


Dale Miller is a sports writer for The Independent.