BUFFALO – It was definitely not the way the Altoona-Midway High School Jets had hoped to begin their
2024 football season – for several reasons.
Heading into Friday’s season-opener against Chetopa, the AMHS grid squad had high hopes of building on back-to-back three-win seasons compiled during their first two years of competition in Kansas’ newly-formed 6-Man classification – including welcoming back six returning lettermen from last year’s Jet squad that set the school’s single-game scoring record, won three of its last four games and also claimed Altoona-Midway’s first football playoff victory in 31 years.
Instead, the wild opener saw the Jets lose their starting quarterback to ejection in the first quarter, their backup quarterback to injury just after halftime and had several players battling leg cramps. The result was a 50-25 loss at Frank Kennedy Field to a spirited Chetopa Hornet squad which started with just seven players, also lost a key player to disqualification, and had its remaining players fighting problems with leg cramping as well.
“That game definitely had a little bit of everything,” said Altoona-Midway Coach Randy Almond.“Unfortunately, most of those twists and turns were negative rather than positive for us.The game’s first big moment occurred out-of-bounds in the opening quarter. An after-the-whistle altercation resulted in the ejection of a key player on each team - AMHS senior Kieran Foster and Chetopa senior Lawrence Holt.
Sophomore Kage Beck assumed the quarterbacking duties for the Jets and performed admirably until suffering a possible concussion in the early moments of the second half. “When you only have eight players suited up to begin with, your game plan just sort of goes out through the window when you lose two key performers like that, especially in the season opener,” Almond noted. “Both teams played much of the game with just six players, and at times the teams played with just five players due to leg cramps.”
“Give Chetopa credit, they played a tough game,” the coach added. “We will go back and work on fundamentals, blocking and tackling and taking care of the ball (the Jets lost two fumbles and two interceptions). But it’s early in the season. I’m confident we’ll bounce back from this.”
Despite the final margin, it was Altoona-Midway that held the lead for most of the first half.
Following a Chetopa safety to open the scoring, the Jets took a 6-2 lead on an impressive 67-yard TD reception by Beck on a pass from William Stackhouse. Chetopa regained the lead with a touchdown, but this time Beck fired a long pass to Stackhouse to put AMHS in business near the goal. Stackhouse rushed the final five yards, and Joey Lamendola ran in the PAT to put AMHS back in front 13-8.
In appeared that was going to be the halftime score, but on the final play before intermission, Chetopa’s Tagg Bond fired a 50-yard bomb to Harrison Carter to give the Hornets a 15-13 lead over the stunned Jets. That play, coupled with Beck’s injury and the cramping issues, seemed to take the air out of Altoona-Midway. A pair of TD runs by Bond increased Chetopa’s cushion to 29-13. Stackhouse raced 70 yards on the ensuing kick to close the gap to 29-19, but from that point on Bond would compile three long TD runs of 45, 76, and 55 yards, while the Jets could only counter with a 55-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Lamendola.
In all, Chetopa’s Bond played a part in all seven Hornet scores, rushing for five TDs and throwing for two more.
“William Stackhouse had a good night on both sides of the ball as well as special teams, plus he stepped in and served as quarterback,” Almond said. “Kage Beck was playing well before his injury. Senior Tyler Peyton ran the ball hard in the fourth quarter, and freshman Chance Carter played well on both sides of the ball.”
The stats showed Stackhouse with 12 tackles, including eight unassisted. Beck was in on nine tackles in basically a half of play, Taj Chism collected seven tackles and Lamendola totaled eight tackles and also picked up an interception.
In the passing department, Stackhouse finished 6-for-13 for 122 yards and Beck was 4-for-7 for 38 yards. “Certainly, this loss is disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world,” Almond said. “We started slowly last year too, and we came back to accomplish some really important things. We’ll work hard and I’m confident we will get better.”
Altoona-Midway (0-1) remains at home next week as well. The Jets will play host on Friday, Sept. 13 to Burrton (1-0). The Chargers opened their season with a narrow 26-21 victory over Southern Coffey County.
Fans should please note that kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Frank Kennedy Field.