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8 Man Coaches 2023

Sean Blosser graduated high school at Perry-Lecompton High School in 2006. He played football at Fort Scott CC and ended his playing career Ottawa University where he received a Bachelor's degree for Physical Education.
He started coaching and teaching at Caldwell High School in 2011. He has lived there since the and has been the head football coach since arriving. Caldwell and South Haven schools combined for football in 2022 creating the South Sumner Outlaws. Coach Blosser was the head coach for the new program. He met and married his wife in Caldwell and they have five sons in their family.
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Kyle Bright graduated from Macksville High School where he competed in all sports and won a state championship in basketball in 2006. He was selected to play in the 8-man All-Star game in 2006 for the West squad. He furthered his education by attending Dodge City Community College from 2006-2008 where he played college football for the Conquistadors. He stood out while playing, earning an All-Conference nod at Center for the Conquistadors my freshman year. Kyle continued his post-secondary education at Fort Hays State University and completed my teaching degree in physical education, also minoring in social studies. He currently lives in Lewis with wife Jamie and son Roman Bright. He also has two stepchildren, son Aiden Katz and daughter Angel Hayes.
Kyle spent one season as an assistant coach for the TMP-Marian Monarchs, followed that up by accepting the assistant coaching position at Macksville High School. He was the assistant coach for 6 years under Chet Skinner and is now the head coach at Macksville High School, completing his third season. As a head coach, his overall record is 18-11 with the team's best year being this last season where they finished 9-1. He came from a family where all four boys were selected to play in this game and being selected as a coach for the 8-man All-star game has always been a goal of mine. Kyle is very excited for the opportunity to coach the West in Division 1 team.
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Travis Desbien graduated from Palco High School in 2007. He was a three sport athlete in high school, competing in football, basketball, and track. He was selected to compete in the 8 Man All Star Game in 2007. After graduating high school Travis attended and graduated from Washburn University in 2014, and the same year he began teaching and coaching in Hill City. After serving as an assistant for 3 years, Travis took over as the head coach in 2017. The Ringnecks are 40-20 under coach Desbien and have had back-to-back sub-state appearances in 21' & 22'.
Travis lives with his fiancé Rachael and their six children, Nolan, Maelyn, Ali, Parker, Ellie, and Evelyn. The two will be having a destination wedding in Jamaica in July.
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Mitch Engelken attended Baileyville-B&B High School where he graduated in 2012. He was a 3-sport athlete for all 4 years of HS. During his HS career, B&B reached the state football title game each season, winning 2 state titles, and compiling an overall team record of 50 wins 2 losses. Mitch competed in the 2012 All-Star game where he set the single game rushing record with 251 yards.
After high school, Mitch played football and graduated from Highland Community College before finishing his degree at Kansas State University. While finishing his degree at Kansas State he began coaching HS Football at Solomon High School in 2016, where he worked for 3 seasons under his HS head coach, Steve Tiernan. After Solomon, Mitch went to Axtell High School where he coached under head coach Eric Detweiler for 2 seasons. He then went to Osborne High School for 1 season where he again assisted head coach Steve Tiernan. Not long before moving to Osborne, Mitch got engaged to his fiancé Rachel, and they were just married earlier this Spring. In April of 2022, Mitch accepted the head football, athletic director and 9-12 weights positions at Stafford High School.
Coach Engelken kicked off his first year as head coach at Stafford High School with an 8-1 record. He led the Trojans to an undefeated 8-0 regular season, the school's first since 1950. Under Coach Engelken, the Trojans clinched a playoff spot for the first time in 4 years, won their first ever league football title, first ever district title; and hosted their second home playoff game in school history. The Trojan offense saw a shift from their previous triple option offense to Coach Engelken's spread attack. In 2022, Coach Engelken's offense at Stafford led 8-Man in total offense with 456 yards per game.
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Matt Heuer graduated from Hanover High School in 2000 and then went on to attend Kansas State University earning a degree in Education. After college, he went back to Hanover where he teaches 5â€‘8 math and high school weights/conditioning while also helping coach multiple sports. Matt was married to his wife Amy in 2017. They have three boys: Wyatt (13), Jackson (5) and Camden (3).He just finished his 18 year as head football coach at Hanover with an overall record of 172â€‘36. The Wildcats have made the playoffs 16 times during this time with Championships in 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020 to go along with Runnerâ€‘Up finishes in 2007, 2014 and 2015.
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Shelby Hoppes is the head coach at Canton-Galva High School and has been since 2017. Shelby graduated from Canton-Galva in 2003. Shelby attended Hutchinson Community College and Kansas State University.
Shelby was the Jr High head coach at Canton-Galva for the 2015 and 2016 season's before taking the high school head coaching job in the fall of 2017. Canton-Galva won the 2019 8-Man D1 State Championship under Coach Hoppes and played in the Sub-state round of the playoffs in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. Coach Hoppes has an overall record of 58-11 as Canton-Galva's head coach.
Shelby married Faylin in 2007 and they are the parents of three children, Makinlee, Drayden, and Lylah.
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Clint Kuhns was born and raised in Meade and graduated from Meade High School in 2007. He was a three sport athlete - football, basketball, and track. Clint earned All-State Honors his junior and senior seasons. He attended Butler Community College on an athletic scholarship to play football for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. After Butler, Clint attended Pittsburg State University and graduate with a business degree. Clint started his coaching and teaching in 2020, when COVID left a void in the Industrial Arts program. His first year of coaching was the 2021 season as an assistant. It was Meade's first undefeated, thirteen win season, capping things off winning the State Championship. This past season was Clint's first season as head coach for the Buffaloes. Clint has a 22-2 record as a coach and a 9-2 record as a head coach.
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Alex McMillian graduated from Pretty Prairie High School in 2009, where he participated in football, golf and track. He was selected to play in the 8-man all star game in 2009. Alex graduated from Fort Hays State University with his Bachelors in Teaching and Coaching PE and Health in 2014 and Masters in Sports Administration in 2016.
Alex started his coaching career as an assistant coach at Victoria High School from 2013-2015, where they won back-to-back state championships and accumulated a 35-2 record. In 2016, he took over the Madison Bulldog football program and taught 7-12th PE and Health. Over his seven years at Madison he has an overall record of 55-18. He also has been the head track coach, powerlifting coach, and the head JH football coach since 2020.
He is married to his wife Melissa McMillian, and their first child Maverick turned 1 year old in March.
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Trever Powell was raised in Greensburg, KS, where he graduated from Kiowa County High School in 2014. He was a three sport athlete in high school â€‘ football, basketball, and track â€‘ and was selected to the Allâ€‘State football team in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He competed at the Kansas HS State track meet all four years of high school. He was also selected as the 2013 Kansas 8â€‘man Football Player of the Year, and played in the 2014 8â€‘ man All Star Game. Trever attended Fort Hays State University and played football. After graduation in 2018 he began teaching & coaching at Bucklin. He started out as an assistant football coach and track coach, and has now completed two seasons as the high school head football coach, while also coaching junior high and high school track. Bucklin has reached the postseason in each of his first two seasons. He has a 14â€‘6 record as the head football coach, coming off an 8â€‘2 season. Trever married his wife, Janae, in 2016 in her hometown of Bucklin. They have a daughter, Austynn, who was born during Bucklin's playoff run in November of 2020. Janae and Austynn made the trip to the game in St. Francis just two days after her birth.
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Joel Struckhoff graduated from Thunder Ridge High School in 2012 where he participated in football, basketball, and track for four years and competed in a state championship in 2011 in football. He was a state champion long jumper as well. He was selected to play in the Shrine Bowl in 2012. Joel graduated from Fort Hays with a bachelor in Human, Health, and Performance and a Masters in Education. He started coaching football in 2017 as an assistant at Thunder Ridge and became the head coach in 2018. During these 5 years he amassed a record of 42â€‘13 and appeared in two subâ€‘state championships (21 & 22) and one state championship (22). Joel met his wife Heidi in Hays, Ks and they were married in 2021. They have one child, Nora.
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Brody Vandegrift is the Head coach of Chase County high school. VanDegrift took over as head coach in 2015 while Chase County was playing 11 man until 2017 where Chase County made the transition to 8 man. Since then, Chase County has been to the playoffs 5 consecutive years, Regional championship in 2020,2021, and 2022 and was the sectional runner up to the eventual state champion Little River in 2020 and again in 2022. Since Vandegrift Has taken over, there has only been 1 year with out a rusher over 1000 yards. Vandegrift Served as an assistant coach for 2 years at Chase County before taking over. Prior to his years at chase county, Vandegrift was an assistant coach to Doug Oberle in Victoria Kansas for 5 years. Vandegrift Played his college ball and a graduated from FHSU. Vandegrift has been married to his beautiful wife Heather for 15 years and has two children, Kason, 10, and Kamdyn, 3.
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Keith Wiatrak graduated from St. Paul High School in 1992, where he participated in football, basketball, and track for four years and competed for a state championship in 1991 in football. He was selected to play in the 8 Man All Star Game in 1992 and played college football at Independence Community College. He started coaching football in 1998 and took over as head coach in 2014. He has coached his entire career at St. Paul High School.
During these 24 years of coaching, he was a part of 4 state football championship appearances (winning 2 of the 4) as assistant coach, and one state championship appearance as the head coach. As the head football coach, his record is 61-30 with 7 playoff appearances, the highest of those being state runner up in 2017. He was an assistant Division II 8 Man All Star Game coach in 2022, which checked off one of his lifelong coaching goals. To be selected as the head coach in the 8 Man All Star Game for 2023 is beyond the greatest of honors.
He is married to Staci Wiatrak and has four kids: Tate (daughter-in-law Tori), Tryce, Taylor, and Kiser and three beautiful grandchildren.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA