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Tigers hope to honor late linebackers coach with another high-performance season
Every player.
Every play.
That is this year’s motto for the Nevada High School football team, and it means much more than the usual inspirational phrase that dons locker room walls, pep rally posters, and booster club t-shirts.
That’s because those four words encompassed the philosophy of Will Downing, the retired Army colonel who was a dual-sport athlete at West Point and spent the last four years of his life coaching linebackers at NHS — before it was tragically cut short at the age of 49 on Monday, Aug. 9, the first day of football practice.
While Coach Downing’s death was a shock to everyone in the program, school, and community, it did not take long for the Tigers to identify the best way to honor his legacy.
“Right away, the kids talked about they wanted to dedicate the season to him and they’re going to play the game the way he would want them to play it. That’s a really mature approach,” said Nevada head coach Wes Beachler, who added that Downing was not only a great football coach but a great man who preached his “every player, every play” philosophy off the gridiron, as well. “The type of man he was, he was an inspiring individual, just with his presence and how he coached the kids and how he treated the kids. They’re wanting to make sure they give their all like he would want them to do.”
Perhaps no one understood Downing’s message better than his son, J.D., a senior running back and defensive back on the team who said playing football is usually an effective escape from life’s troubles — but it’s much different when that voice you’re used to hearing before and after every snap, before and after every game, is no longer there.
“None of these practices have been terrible. The only time was after the jamboree, because he’d usually be there telling me good job and stuff. I think, honestly, it might get a little bit harder before it gets easier,” said Downing, who helped the Tigers put on an impressive debut in their jamboree scrimmages against Carthage and Carl Junction — and will be a key contributor all season, a welcome change after missing the first two games last year with a broken leg. “I want to play good and play for him. Just got to keep the right mindset.”
According to senior lineman Logan Smith, one of four returning starters on the offensive line, emotions were very high at that jamboree.
“It’s bigger than football at this point,” Smith said. “We got something to play for.”
Junior lineman Skylur Mashek agreed, adding that Coach Downing’s mindset applies to every snap, meaning every player has to do his job on every play.
“And if they do, we have nothing to worry about. We should win easy,” Mashek said. “We all just got to keep going, because that’s what he would have wanted us to do. He’s somebody that always kept going, never stopped for anything. We just got to take his mentality into the game.”
Nevada certainly fulfilled that goal in its jamboree, putting on a performance on both sides of the ball that the Tigers will hope to repeat every Friday in the loaded Big 8 Conference.
After rebounding from a winless 2019 season with a 7-4 record in 2020, Nevada returns nearly a dozen starters — highlighted not just by all those experienced linemen but an embarrassment of riches in the backfield.
Junior quarterback Cade Beshore threw two touchdown passes in the jamboree. Junior running back Case Sanderson ran for two of his own, including one on a direct snap. In the offense’s signature wingback formation, which features plenty of deception and motion, senior Eli Cheaney and sophomore Brice Budd were the beneficiaries of two more rushing scores. Senior Logan Marquardt caught one of those TDs. Then there’s juniors Avious Steadman and Jordan Johnson, who moved to Nevada from Fort Scott, Blake Cox and Gage Miller (two more juniors), and sophomore Layne Webb, who will handle a few carries. And don’t forget Downing, of course.
“We’ve got a lot of weapons at tailback,” said Beachler, who will handle most offensive play calling duties — a task that might include more passing plays than in years past after how effectively Beshore has been reading defenses. “When we pass, we want to be able to hurt some people with that passing game. We’ll continue to work on that. It’s timing. It’s rhythm. It’ll get there.”
Recipients of those passes will mostly be those running backs and tight ends (Marquardt, junior Drew Beachler, senior Kartman Highley, sophomore Tyler Longobardi).
Most of those same offensive weapons and experienced linemen will also lead the defense — a unit that will face an early test in the pass-heavy offense of Logan-Rogersville, the defending Big 8 East champion who Nevada beat to open last season.
The conference is loaded this year, too, but Beachler is optimistic his team can shock a few teams once again. Then again, he’ll be happy with any hard-fought battle the Tigers fight.
“Our conference is so tough, I always tell the kids, I’m not worried about wins and losses. I’m worried about performance and execution,” Beachler said. “Because, in our conference, unfortunately, you can play pretty doggone good and you can execute pretty doggone good, and you can still come up on the short end of the stick on the scoreboard. It’s just that tough.”
According to senior center Jackson Dryer, playing hard and beating other teams should go hand in hand.
“Coach Downing, we all loved him. He was amazing. The one thing Coach Downing wouldn’t want us doing is coming out here and lay an egg,” Dryer said. “He wants us to just give it all we got. Every player. Every play. And, hopefully, with that, that’s good enough to win the ballgame.”