By MATT PIKE
As a new high school football season begins, a new adventure does as well for the Troy Trojans, who will play in the 8-man football ranks for the first time in school history.
A drop in enrollment at Troy made the move an expected one when the Kansas State High School Activities Association announced its classifications for 2026 and 2027 last year. At the time, Troy Head Coach Derek Jasper called the move an expected one, after the team suited up just 19 player's last season.
But the team is embracing the change and is ready for a new season which officially begins next week. Jasper says over the summer his athletes really embraced the challenge and got excited about playing 8-man football.
"Like a couple of our seniors said, hey we're playing football, it doesn't matter the game or how many people are on the field," Jasper tells St. Joseph Post/KFEQ. "So, that was encouraging to hear and we're just ready to get going and see what happens."
Depth on the team is still an issue, with just 16 players out to play. Troy boasts a good group of upperclassmen however, which is something Jasper is excited about.
"Just seeing our juniors step up, they didn't play a whole lot last year, we've got eight of them, so they don't have the experience, but they really need to step up and fill roles," Jasper explains. "Our six seniors have got that playing time, that Friday night experience, but not in 8-man, so that's going to be new too, and a lot of them aren't going to be able to come off the field, even on special teams, because we don't have the depth to put other people in and take the chance of giving up the big play."
Jasper says conditioning has been important with such a short team, getting guys ready to potentially play an entire game without a break having to play multiple positions on both sides of the ball. Senior quarterback Kaston Jasper says there's a lot of energy from the upperclassmen on the team.
"All of the upperclassmen are just here getting everybody pumped up before practice and then the lowerclassmen, they're definitely trying as hard as they can, so it definitely helps," Kaston says.
Another senior on the squad, Colt Jensen, says with the change and a new look, he echoes the lesson to the young players on the team from his coach.
"Control what you can control and try your hardest every day, that's about all you can do," Jensen says.
The Trojans get their first official taste of 8-man football tonight in the Axtell High School Football Jamboree against Washington County and Axtell at 7pm. They will open their season next Friday hosting Lyndon.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.