By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2024 season on Sept. 6.
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At some point in its building process, most every high school football program needs that one signature win that propels it from pretty good to a state contender.
Jared Swafford's Seaman Vikings are coming off a 6-5 record and a trip to the Class 5A state quarterfinals last fall. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Jared Swafford's is hopeful that last season's 31-28 second-round playoff win over No. 1 East seed De Soto was that kind of victory for his Seaman Vikings.
"It had been 2016 since we had gotten past that second round and I think this was one of those things that we can hopefully build off of,'' Swafford said. "It was a close game, we find a way to win, and we did the same thing against Piper at one point, but there were three other games in there (two losses by 3 points and one by 7) where we were close and you get tired of being close and I know the kids do.
"It would have been really easy to shut it down at that point, but they kept working and kept working and kept working and in the playoffs got to see some of that pay off. I think it's somthing to build off of and help motivate kids and just continue to push the program forward.''
Seaman was sitting at 3-4 after a stretch that saw the Vikings drop four of five games, but the Vikings won three of their last four games, with their lone loss coming against 5A champion Mill Valley, to finish at 6-5.
And Swafford, who is entering his fourth season at Seaman, said his Vikings have rode that momentum through the offseason to get ready for the upcoming 2024 campaign.
"It's the most motivated I've ever seen a collective group without a doubt and everybody that's out here now only knows me as a head coach and what we do now, so I think as far as continuing to build and progress in the way we want to they are hungry, they are excited,'' Swafford said. "We have 120 kids out there again, so we've got great numbers and the numbers in the summer were amazing so we've got really good things going and I'm proud of the work ethic that the kids put in.''
Adding to Seaman's optimism is the fact that the Vikings return a solid nucleus, including eight starters on offense and four on defense.
Seaman senior quarterback Max Huston was the All-Shawnee County and All-UKC offensive player of the year last season. [File photo/TSN]
Max Huston, a 6-foot, 180-pound senior quarterback, was named the Shawnee County and All-United Kansas Conference offensive player of the year last season after passing for 3,257 yards and 39 touchdowns with just two interceptions and rushing for 706 yards and eight TDs.
Also back on offense are senior wide receiver Bryer Finley (6-5, 190), who had 632 receiving yards and 10 TDs, junior tight end Noah Kobuszewski (6-4, 240), senior center Andrew Broughton (5-11, 200), junior guards Brayden Warren (6-0, 200) and Brogen Brown (6-1, 230), senior tackle Dallas Gardenhire (6-4, 245) and junior tackle Brodie Empson (6-1, 210).
Kobuszewski and Broughton were second-team All-UKC picks while Finley received honorable mention.
Defensively, the Vikings return senior defensive tackle Kaden Jordan (6-2, 300), senior defensive end Deyton Mentzer (5-11, 205) and senior linebackers Hayden Cummings (5-10, 205) and Thomas Osborne (5-11, 190).
Cummings was in on 103 tackles with three tackles for loss and two forced fumble while Osborne was in on 59 tackles with three tackles for loss and an interception and Jordan had 42 tackles with seven tackles for loss, two sacks and two forced fumbles.
Jordan was a first-team All-UKC selection while Cummings received second-team recognition.
The Vikings open the season with two straight road games, traveling to Piper for a United Kansas Conference game on Sept. 6 and a non-league game at Shawnee Mission East on Sept 13.
Seaman will play its home opener on Sept. 20 against city and UKC rival Topeka West.
SEAMAN
2024 football schedule
September -- 6 at Piper, 13 at Shawnee Mission East, 20 Topeka West, 27 at KC-Turner.
October -- 4 Lansing, 11 Shawnee Heights, 18 Basehor-Linwood, 25 De Soto.
Next up: Shawnee Heights.
