Independent nearly canceled its football season. Now it has its first win in 3 years
The year 2020 has been a year of so many firsts that Eric Swenson admits he maybe shouldn’t be surprised by how wild this season has been for the Independent football team.
With tears in his eyes — and only 12 healthy players left on the sidelines — Swenson had to call off Independent’s first game of the season by halftime. That was followed by a gut-wrenching decision to forfeit the second game of the season, as well.
Swenson was again on the verge of crying last Friday, but this time because of the overwhelming feeling of pride he had in his Class 1A program that had just won its first game in nearly three years. Independent snapped a 22-game losing streak by defeating Elkhart 36-19 for its first win since Oct. 26, 2017.
Just two weeks before, Swenson privately worried Independent might have to cancel its football season. That’s why there wasn’t a dry eye in the post-game huddle when Swenson addressed his team following the win.
“I tried to think back and I can hardly remember the last win because there had been so many losses in between,” said Independent lineman Graham Burmeister, one of two seniors on the team who had experienced winning before last Friday.
“When we ran the victory play, I truly could not stop the tears coming down my face. I was so happy. It was one of the best feelings in my life.”
‘That was heartbreaking to see’
Swenson has been at Independent for the last 21 years and witnessed the football program at its best and at its worst.
In the last two decades, Independent has had three winning seasons, one playoff win, and a 48-139 record (26% winning percentage). But more importantly, it has had a severe decline in participation recently.
Independent started this season with 15 players — seniors through freshmen — on its roster. The silver lining for Swenson was that Independent was set to play all but one of its games this season against fellow 1A schools, a change from past seasons when it would be forced to play league games against much bigger Central Plains League competition.
“We can’t compete against teams like Garden Plain and Cheney who are going to walk out 60 or 70 kids on the field,” Swenson said. “Not when you’re a school like us in a situation like us with our numbers.”
It only took three injuries in the season-opener against Belle Plaine to put the rest of the season in jeopardy for Independent.
Swenson said it was one of the worst feelings he’s ever had as a coach when he informed the referees that Independent, which was trailing 49-0, would not be able to play the second half.
“I remember coming to the sidelines and seeing Swenson wave to the other sideline,” Burmeister said. “I said, ‘But we still have another half to play, coach’ and he just said, ‘No.’
“Swenson is a tough guy and he almost started crying and that was heartbreaking to see someone who is so tough, hearing his voice crack and him having to stop speaking for almost a minute to regather himself. That was tough.”
‘We did everything we could to make them pity us’
It became clear following the season-opening loss that if Independent wanted to finish its season, it would need more players on the team.
Burmeister and other football players started recruiting classmates like their season depended upon it — because it did. Independent only has an enrollment of 116 students, but there were plenty of potential targets in athletes from other sports.
“There were a lot of seniors who weren’t on the team, but liked football and liked watching our games in the stands,” Burmeister said. “So we told them if they didn’t come out, there wouldn’t be a football team anymore. We basically did everything we could to make them almost pity us.”
The guilt trip worked, as eight players — mostly seniors — joined the football team that week. But because the Kansas State High School Activities Association requires student-athletes to practice at least 10 times before competing in a game, Independent had to still forfeit its Week 2 game against Sedgwick.
Losing a game on the schedule hurt Swenson, but at least Independent could practice 11-on-11 now. Their season had been resuscitated.
“I never thought I would be so happy to have 23 kids out for football,” Swenson said. “I remember back in the early 2000s, we were upset if we had less than 40. But now, I’m just happy that we’re playing.”
‘The smiles, that is a coaches’ paycheck’
Even if it’s few in numbers, Independent might have its fastest team ever now, according to Swenson.
“If this was a track team, we would be in the money,” Swenson said.
That speed was evident in Independent’s 55-30 loss to Remington on Sept. 18, but it was also evident that Independent hadn’t practiced much together as a team.
That’s why they were eagerly anticipating the game at Elkhart, despite the 4½-hour drive to the tiny Kansas town nestled on the Oklahoma border in Southwest Kansas. It was the first game all of the newcomers would play in.
“I told the boys before we left, ‘We’re not driving nine hours for a loss,’” Swenson said.
It all seemed so surreal to Burmeister.
He was one of only two players who had persevered for the last four years through all of the losing. There isn’t a lot of glamour involved in playing lineman for a winless football team, but Burmeister never missed a day of practice because the commitment to his team meant something bigger to him.
That’s why he fought so hard to save his season. And that’s why he cried so hard when his faith was rewarded last Friday and the boys who watched from the stands at the start of the season joined the boys like Burmeister who had endured losing for years to win together.
“I was honestly having the time of my life out there on the field,” Burmeister said. “Even if I got destroyed on a play, I would get back up and tell myself, ‘I’ll get it back on the next one.’ I was just so happy to be out there playing the game I love.”
To some, Independent’s 36-19 win over Elkhart was nothing more than a game between two of the smallest 11-man football teams in Kansas who were both winless.
But to Independent, the win meant so much more. Family and students stayed up past midnight to wait for the team’s arrival back in Wichita, ringing cow bells and cheering them on like they had won a championship.
Independent didn’t win a championship, but the win felt like something similar. It’s just a different feeling when the outlook is bleak and it feels like the odds are stacked against you and you decide to rally and forge on. When perseverance like that is rewarded with a victory, it might not be a championship but its a feeling that is worth more than any one win could signify.
“When you look around the huddle and see the smiles on all of the kids’ faces, that right there is a coaches’ paycheck,” Swenson said. “That is why we do what we do.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 5:43 AM.
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