By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
A new era is underway in Lockwood Football.
After 13 years on the sideline, Lockwood alum Clay Lasater stepped down as head football coach last spring to become the district’s superintendent. Taking his place is yet another Lockwood native, 2003 graduate Luke Rader.
Rader has spent nearly a decade at Lockwood as an assistant coach, including the last two seasons as an assistant following a five-year stint as the head coach at Sarcoxie.
After helping Lockwood get to the state championship game as a player in 2001, and spending the majority of his professional life in Lockwood, Rader is hopeful knowing the community will help make this an easier transition.
“I think it’s definitely a bonus to have some familiarity going into year one as head coach at Lockwood,” said Rader. “Probably the biggest area I see it helping is already knowing the kids, and having relationships established with many of them.
“Lockwood is a very special community. That is something that we really try to explain to our kids, to take pride in wearing the LT, and to represent it well on and off the field. Hopefully we can continue to do that this fall.”
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Rader clearly isn’t a stranger to the SRVC and understands that physical football is winning football in the conference. The Tigers are replacing a loaded senior class, but the brand of Lockwood Football will still revolve around running the football.
“Offensively we are going to base out of split back veer,” said Rader. “We are hoping we can play physical and control the ball.”
“We’ve run it some in the last few years, but we haven’t based around it. I feel like it’s a good mix of Coach Lasater’s philosophy, what the kids have some familiarity with, and my philosophy of wanting to establish the run.”
While Lockwood must replace several key starters, Rader will have an abundance of talented skill position players that will be home run threats every time they touch the football.
A three-headed monster returns to the backfield with Jobe Edwards (83 rushes, 687 rush yards, 8 TDs), Josh Osterdyk (57 rushes, 418 rush yards, 4 TDs) and Justin Nentrup (76 rushes, 403 rush yards, 4 TDs).
All three seniors have had a tremendous offseason according to Rader and are expected to produce on both sides of the ball this year.
Senior receiver Logan Sparkman will be one of the top perimeter threats in the Ozarks this year after a junior campaign that saw him lead the team in receptions (26), receiving yards (469) and receiving touchdowns (4).
“Honestly, what makes those guys so special is their character,” said Rader. “They’re all great kids, and extremely hard workers. We have some kids coming back that should be good leaders, and really set the bar for our younger kids to know how we do things.”
Defensively the Tigers return seven starters, led by returning tackle leader Brady Oeltjen.
The senior linebacker earned All-SRVC honors behind 46 tackles and four interceptions. Oeltjen is also the team’s lone returning starter on the offensive line. He was a third-team All-State selection in 2016.
“Brady is another kid that is one of the hardest workers I’ve seen,” said Rader. “He is a great leader for us. He’s just a tough, hard-nosed, kid who is also a great teammate.”
Mammoth junior Evan Bates will look to step into a major role in the trenches for the Tigers this fall. Lockwood will also see several freshmen and sophomore compete for varsity reps this fall.
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The SRVC has seen nearly every program lose key seniors, which will only add to the parity of the league this year. Rader is expecting several teams to be in the hunt for the conference championship.
After losing to Midway in the Class 1 – District 3 championship last year, Rader and Lockwood aren’t focusing on the past, just looking to continue to build brick by brick.
“I think the conference is going to be extremely tough this fall,” said Rader. “I know there were some big names that graduated last year, but I also think there are several teams that will be better, and get better as the season goes.
“I know it sounds like coach talk but we really haven’t talked too much about last year, said Rader. “We have really just been trying to focus on improving and becoming more consistent.”
The Tigers open the 2017 season at Liberal on Aug. 18. Lockwood won’t play its home opener until Sep. 1 when it’ll play host to Forsyth.
