  nancial drive. It was expected to take roughly $120,000 to start a football program, and State Technical College got the ball rolling in a big way by committing $60,000.


“That was huge, that was the seed money,” Klebba said. “Then a committee was formed to go out and get pledges, and the pledges just kept pouring in. I was shocked, frankly.”  What a great time to be a Wildcat.


“I couldn’t be more proud the way this community has come out and supported these kids and this football team,” Wildcats head   put together bleachers, build a concession stand and a press box. They’ve done everything. “It’s tremendous what they’ve done. I can’t even imagine where this football program would be without the help of this community. You  don’t even know what’s going on or know anything about football. “They’re just doing it for the kids.” ON THE FIELD, THE TEAM has gone through the expected growing pains. 


 gram’s inception. “We had 18 kids come out and only four of them had ever played football.”


That team went 0-6 and was outscored (you might want to hide your eyes here) by a tidy 180-16.  out and made tremendous strides. That 8-2 season included wins over well-established and traditional powers St. Francis Borgia, Salisbury and Tipton.


That season probably needs to come with an asterisk, however, as three seniors were key to the success. As a rule, seniors rarely 


“They only had two years of experience,” Samson said, “but we still had 18-year-olds playing against 14-year-old kids.” Still ...


“The kids are starting to see what it takes to play football,” Sam- son said. “They still have a long way to go, but they’ve come a long way in three years. You can’t just walk out there and play. It takes a lot of time to learn the game.” In other words, this isn’t like the Thanksgiving Day game in grand- ma and grandpa’s backyard.           


Show-Me Sports /// 47


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