After a season where Enid High Football went 5-5 in the regular season and won it’s first playoff game in years, it is no surprise that expectations for the football season are high, and first-year head coach Cameron Conder doesn’t shy away from those expectations. “We have proven that we can compete with the teams that we should be able to compete with,” said Conder, “we know we have some teams on our schedule we should be able to beat, and then we want to compete with those bigger teams. And we are getting there.”
As part of being able to compete with the bigger programs, Conder focuses on a specific culture he wants to see at Enid High, “We don’t talk about other teams, that’s a big key to us, we have to worry about ourselves.” And for Enid, that has to start with effort. “Every championship team I have been a part of as a player or coach always had better effort than our opposition. And we have really sold that mantra of Effortville starting at Selby stadium. If we are going to be successful, we have to give the greatest effort every day.”
That team effort started this summer with summer pride. “We had 36 guys that were 100% with summer pride. We have really put an emphasis on the fact that if you show up, you get better. I’m a big rewards guy, so I made a deal with the players and the athletic department that if they were 100% in the summer, they’d get their name on their jersey. The kids have really taken to that and showed out. Next year is really going to be interesting to see how that improves. We also had 80-90 each day which we have never seen those kinds of numbers,” said Conder.
As far as this season goes, it’s still early, but Conder knows he has some big shoes to fill with the graduation of leading rusher Luke Rauh (now at Air Force) and leading receiver Tykie Andrews (at Oklahoma State). “Losing a 2,000 yard rusher and a 1,500 yard receiver is tough, and we gotta find a way to replace them,” said Conder, “and we will probably replace them with numbers. We will spread the ball around and hand the ball off to several guys. We have some talent, but we are inexperienced. Guys like Carmello Washington, Tyson Kennedy and Zaire Allen collectively have the talent to collectively replace what we lost. At running back Blake Fuksa will get his shot to shine and we have some other underclassmen that will get some opportunities, too. We are building with youth, and that means the future looks bright.”
Because they don’t have experienced stars at those key positions, especially running back, the offense will look a little different this year. “We are going to play a little bit different brand of football this season. We are going to vary our tempos from very fast to way slowed down, and we are going to spread the ball out, and that includes getting the ball to the running backs. That will alleviate the pressure on the offensive line and hopefully get our athletes in space,” said Conder. In high school football, changing faces are inevitable, but effort can be controlled. Regardless of who’s on the field, expect the Enid High team to be giving it all they can, if Conder has anything to say about it.
