By Josh Hall
For seven years, the Bolivar football program has been blessed with two of the best quarterbacks in Missouri.
Combined, Rafe Peavey and Connor Sechler threw for 12,441 pass yards and 118 touchdowns. Peavey went on to sign with Arkansas and later played at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Sechler will suit up for the Missouri State baseball team this fall.
So who is going to fill that void of two record-breaking quarterbacks?
During a 24-team 7-on-7 session on Thursday at Parkview, all signs pointed towards senior Deacon Banner being the next man up.
“Right now he’s the guy as a senior,” Bolivar head coach Glen Johnson said. “He’s a guy that’s been playing free safety for us and hasn’t really had an opportunity with Connor being the guy the last three years.”
Banner has never played quarterback in his career.
Well, that’s not entirely true. He did start a game for the junior varsity squad as a freshman and threw one pass last year for the varsity team. It was an interception.
But Banner, also a baseball player, feels ready to take on the responsibility.
“I’m excited for the opportunity,” he said. “There’s always some pressure. I mean, it’s sports and there’s pressure. But I just want to help the team.”
There are others in the mix for the starting job.
Sophomore Hayden Burks and freshman Bo Banner, Deacon’s younger brother, are also getting some reps under center.
“Deacon’s had a lot of experience at the varsity level, but it’s nice to have some younger guys that can throw the ball and have been playing (quarterback) all their lives,” Johnson said. “I think competition breeds excellence, anyways. That’s the positive thing about it.”
Deacon Banner has been working at the position for a few months. He spent the winter throwing in the gym and continued through the spring.
Johnson has seen improvement each day.
“He’s really improved all summer,” he said. “We play 7-on-7 every Monday, and just seeing the progress that he’s made is encouraging.”
Throughout his career, Sechler threw for 6,699 career yards and 68 touchdowns, which broke Peavey’s record of 5,742 yards through the air and 50 touchdowns.
Those numbers will be hard to replace by anyone.
But as far as added pressure?
“Bolivar is a great football town,” Johnson said. “I don’t necessarily think it’s pressure. It’s just being anxious to get that opportunity. These guys have dreamed about being Liberators since they were in third grade. That’s the cool thing. These guys have had a great opportunity all their lives to watch those great players.”
The Liberators’ offense will look slightly different from past years no matter who gets the job. And here’s why:
Bolivar returns its top running back in senior Lane Loomer, who ran for 1,798 yards on 257 carries to go along with 19 touchdowns.
“You will definitely get to see a heavy dose of Lane this year,” Johnson said “If anybody knows anything about football is running sets up passing. We’re not the team that passes to run.”
Loomer is optimistic for the Liberators, who went 6-5 last year.
“We have pretty high expectations,” he said. “We’re fast. We’re not too far into anything, but we have a lot of hard workers.”
