Small-school has Kansas best

Tight end Josh BarboClick EMPORIA, Kan. - Conway Springs, Kan., doesn’t roll off the tongues of many recruiting fans, but this year the town is home to three Division-I recruits. The small 3A school is also the home of the back-to-back Class 3A state football champions after the Cardinals recorded a 27-19 victory Saturday afternoon.Here to view this Link. is an imposing figure for most high school players. The 6-foot-6, 252-pound Barbo has played tight end for Conway Springs this season. The same position the Missouri Tigers have recruited him to play for them beginning in the 2003 season.

“Losing a player like Josh for the period of time we did obviously hurt us,” Conway Springs coach Mark Bliss said. “Our back-up we have used in his place did a fine job. But that is not an equal swap. He’s a big person to have lined up against some of the players he has lined up against. News of him being committed to Missouri and being the top-rated player in the state travels quickly to the opposing teams.”

Entering the game, Bliss was hopeful Barbo could return from a broken foot.

“Everything is ready for Josh to go,” Bliss said Friday. “We’ll see how it goes and go from there. We’re not going to run a risk at further injuring him.”

That didn’t happen and Barbo helped bring home the second straight state championship trophy.

“Josh played all the way on offense and some on defense,” Mike Barbo, Josh’s father said. “The thought entering the game was for him to just play offense. That ended up being a little bit of defense too at defensive end.”

Barbo himself was excited to be back on the field after missing the previous three games.

“The highlight of my season would have to be coming back from the injury and being able to play in the state title game,” Barbo said.

“It was a lot of fun just being out there again. Prior to the game, Coach Bliss told us to remember that this was going to be the last time that the group of players in our locker room at that time would ever play together and that we needed to make the most out of it.”

While the game gave a glimpse of what future recruiting classes may offer colleges out of the state of Kansas, the Cardinals didn’t waste time and made the most out of their last performance together.

They jumped out to a 14-0 lead part-way through the second quarter when Silver Lake finally got on the board with the first of what would be three touchdown passes on the day from the Eagles’ junior quarterback Kyle Kruger.

“Kruger is a good one,” Bliss said. “If you don’t keep him in your mind and your plan all the time, he can step up and hurt you. He can move around so well in and out of the pocket that you can’t just run at him hard. He’s mobile enough to get out of the way and make the play while he runs away from you.”

Kruger will have another shot at the title next season as he returns after having thrown for 3,345 yards and 35 touchdowns this year.

Another player who will be back for more is Conway Springs sophomore running back Darrin Seiwert. Seiwert ran for 194 yards including touchdown runs of 1, 18 and 15 yards.

Linebacker Nathan PaulyClick Conway Springs’ two other senior standouts are making plans for college like Barbo.Here to view this Link. (6-foot-2, 210-pounds) is following in his brother’s footsteps and is headed to Fort Collins, Colo. to play for Sonny Lubick’s Colorado State Rams.

“Nathan is just like his brother, Eric,” Bliss said. “He’s always around the ball. He takes away some of our other defensive players’ chances because he is so quick to get there and make the tackle. He’ll continue a good tradition that Coach Lubick has going out there at CSU.”

Pauly also helped carry the load on offense this season for the Cardinals from his fullback position in the team’s single wing offense.

“We don’t make Nathan carry the ball a lot for us,” Bliss said. “But he is successful a lot of the time when we do give it to him.”

Saturday, Pauly had two carries for nine yards including one short yardage fourth down gain that kept a drive alive for Conway Springs.

The third recruit from this year’s Conway squad is defensive tackle Phil Friess.

“Phil is a good player for us,” Bliss said. “It won’t be easy to replace him either next year. He’s big (6-foot-5, 270-pounds) and fairly quick on his feet. He was always around the ball it seemed like.”

Friess, unlike his teammates, has yet to make his college choice.

“Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt and Kansas are all recruiting him pretty hard,” Bliss said. “He will take trips to Oklahoma State sometime in December and to Vanderbilt in January one of the weekends. He’s a good hard-nosed player.”

Friess also filled in as Barbo’s replacement during the three game stretch Barbo missed.

“Phil was our tight end last year,” Bliss said. “So putting him in there this year wasn’t a big shock to him. He knew what to do.”

It isn’t often a single team in Kansas will have multiple Division-I recruits. This year, Conway Springs showcased their talented trio on the best stage the state had to offer – the state championship game in Emporia. And the group made the most of their last time on the field together.