SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
HAVEN, Kan. — The Haven High School football team is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2001. The Wildcats travel to Douglass (1-2) on Friday to try and extend the unbeaten start to 4-0, which would be the best start since 1995.
"We challenged them before the season to step up and let's go make a name for ourselves, and go make a name for this group," co-head coach Thomas Cooprider said. "They really liked that and really want to be good, so they're really liking it right now."
Haven has opened the season with wins over Hillsboro, Nickerson and Smoky Valley. The Wildcats have outscored those three opponents, 149-37. Haven is averaging 439.5 yards per game, while allowing 182.5. The Wildcats have done most of its damage on the ground, rushing for 261.3 yards per game.
Nash Wray has passed for 469 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions, while also rushing for a team-high 338 yards to go along with three touchdowns on the ground. Wray also has a 76-yard kickoff return for a score.
Vance Loop has 39 carries for 310 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging over 100 yards per game.
Aiden Hoopes leads the receivers with 11 receptions for 193 yards and four touchdowns.
"We're pretty explosive, but that is as much as on the players as it is any of the plays I call," co-head coach Drew Thalmann said. "Van Loop is a great running back for us, anytime he touches it he can go to the house. Nash Wray at quarterback is dangerous in the passing game, as well as tucking it and running. Chandler Ingold and Hoopes on the other side are both really good receivers, so we've got some guys that when they have the ball in their hands are pretty dangerous."
The defense has been stout all season with six sacks and 23 tackles for loss. The Wildcats have 11 takeaways, eight fumble recoveries and three interceptions.
Grant Patry has a team-high 30 tackles from his linebacker spot, while Blake Richey and Dakota Arndt each have 22 stops. Arndt has a team-high four tackles for loss, while Richey has a team-high two sacks.
"This group out of the 11 starters in week one, 10 of them were starters or played well-over 50 percent of the snaps last year at the varsity level," Cooprider said. "So bringing a very experienced crew back is super helpful. We are extremely athletic on defense and fast."
Cooprider and Thalmann took over the Haven program in 2019 after the Wildcats finished 2-7 in back-to-back seasons prior. The duo finished 4-5 in 2019, before going 8-3 in 2020, the most wins since 1985.
"I think that that crew maybe snuck up on us a little bit," Thalmann said. "They were really good on the o-line, I think this crew is better skill wise, but it'd be kind of fun to line the two teams up and see who would come out on top."
Cooprider and Thalmann know several of the players on the team now were in middle school or younger during the eight-win season in 2020 and were looking up on that team.
"It's one thing that we tell those guys and these guys get that when we ask them if they remember when they were little guys and looked up and wanted to be those guys playing on Friday nights," Thalmann said. "Now there are kids saying 'I want to be Van Loop, or I want to be Nash Wray' or whoever that is playing football on Friday night behind the bleachers, so those guys get that now and that's good to realize people are watching."
The Wildcats travel to Douglass on Friday night and both Cooprider and Thalmann know they can't take anything for granted.
"They're pretty good sized, nothing terribly flashy, but they're trying to line up and run it right down at you," Cooprider said.
The record may not reflect on the Bulldogs' team.
"Even at 1-2, they've played some good teams," Thalmann said. "They're a better team than they were last year, so it can be kind of a deceiving 1-2 team."
The Wildcats return to Haven for a home game on Oct. 4 against Garden Plain.
"We've got a group that plays as hard as any group we've ever had," Cooprider said. "They've bought in to everything we've ever told them, they've bought into the weight room, they've bought into us, they've bought into each other and they go out and play that way. They are flying around, having fun, and playing football the way it should be played."