By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Bishop LeBlond is still somewhat of a new kid on the block in Missouri 8-man football.
The Golden Eagles went down to 8-man in 2019 and finished 2-7, followed by a 3-4 mark in 2020.
The tables turned in a big way for LeBlond in 2021, as the Eagles started the season 4-0 and made it to the district championship game, where they fell to a rock solid King City group, 42-28, in state quarterfinals.
Confidence is high for LeBlond in 2022, and rightfully so. The Eagles return six starters on both sides of the ball and are led by a group of nine seniors.
"Really (the key) is keep the ball rolling in the direction we had it going a year ago," third-year head coach Chuck Davis said. "The district championship didn't end in a way that we would have liked, obviously. We had some guys banged up. We played a really good, big, physical King City team and that's left our kids, I think, pretty hungry."
Signal caller Landon Gardner is back for his fourth and final year as a starter. Gardner had a massive junior campaign at quarterback, passing for 1979 yards and 31 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. He added to that 1099 rushing yards and 22 scores on the ground.
Gardner also led the team defensively with 112 total tackles, nine interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
"It was a big step in the program," Gardner said of last season's success. "We don't think we're going backwards, so hopefully we can do better than that 10-2 record this year and hopefully end with something special."
Fellow senior Jake Korell is the top returning receiver. He hauled in 42 passes for 863 yards and a team-best 15 receiving touchdowns.
"The past couple of seasons, we haven't been the best," Korell remarked. "Last year really just boosted up our confidence. A lot of people are talking about us now. Which, I mean, is kind of hard, but it feels good at the same time. I feel like we can do a lot this year."
Korell and Gardner were freshmen when LeBlond started as an eight-man team. Korell recalls about 20 kids participating then. The Eagles now list 29 players on their roster posted on the MSHSAA website.
It took some tough seasons to get to this point, but LeBlond proved one thing in 2021 - they're ready to contend in the eight-man ranks in 2022 and beyond.
"With success comes more expectations from your opponents also," Davis said. "I think we're going to have a target on our back with a lot of teams, starting week one at Pattonsburg and our schedule just gets tougher as we go along."
LeBlond opens at Pattonsburg on August 26. They'll partake in the East Atchison jamboree on August 19. Their schedule also includes a home test against Archie, who beat LeBlond last year, 28-24, and a road trip to last year's state runner-up Worth County.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.