(Elk Horn) Classic games will begin airing on KSOM every Friday throughout the month of May. This week’s selection is Exira-EHK against Don Bosco in the 2013 state championship football game. Yesterday we heard from Zach Kliefoth, today brings us Trey Sander, and we have visits lined up with both Joe Harris and Bret Johnson still ahead.
Sander knew Exira-EHK had something special from the moment Elk Horn-Kimballton and Exira first joined forces. The 2013 season was their 5th year together. “It was my 8th grade year and that year we dominated every junior high game that we had. I remember sitting around and talking to some of those guys like Bret Johnson, Nick Peppers, and Tate Simpson. We all kind of that that we had a real shot to do it in high school. I guess it was something we all really wanted to strive for ever since we got into high school and we never really lost sight of that goal.”
After falling to Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn in the 2012 semifinals they were bound and determined to make a deeper run in 2013. “It was just kind of a thing that we all understood that this was our time. We weren’t prepared the year before. We didn’t really know what to expect going into the dome.”
Regardless of the outcome in the finals, the players on that team came away with the experience of a lifetime. “Looking back it was one of the best times of my life. There was a great group of people. We all wanted the same thing. We all bought into coach Tom Petersen’s system. It was just a great time and I love all of those guys.”
Sander was a force on offense and defense. He was a state place winner in wrestling and that physicality was on display on the gridiron where he rushed for 964 yards and was in on 72 tackles.
The Exira-EHK vs Don Bosco game will re-air at 6:00 p.m this Friday on 96.5 FM KSOM. You can stream it through westerniowatoday.com or on the Western Iowa Today app.
