Defending Lewis & Clark Conference champion, Harrisburg will take the field for Friday’s opener at Cabool with a new head coach and shorthanded sideline.

Coach Brennan Claas will lead a team of 19 players in his first-ever game as a head coach. The Macon native was announced as the new coach of the Bulldogs in January.

Claas takes over for Steve Hopkins, who led Harrisburg to a 7-3 overall record a year ago with a conference title. Hopkins finished 29-15 overall in four years at the helm of the Bulldogs before retiring at the conclusion of the season last year.

While this is Claas’s first season as a head coach, he spent four years coaching at his alma mater in Macon, three of which were under the tutelage of his father and head coach, Pete Claas. He then went on to coach for two years at Clark County, against whom he will lead the Bulldogs in Week 2 of the season on September 1.

The Bulldogs graduated 12 seniors from last year’s team, and return with only 19 players this season, none of whom are freshmen. Several key pieces of last year’s team return, including quarterback Trace Combs and seniors Hayven and Gavin Samuels, Andrew Morris, and Austin Starbuck. Combs unexpectedly took over the role of signal caller as a sophomore when senior quarterback Anthony Alicea injured his throwing shoulder in the first game of the season. Since then, he managed to lead his team to a conference championship while passing for 1,550 yards and 18 touchdowns

Claas said that so far this year, Combs seems sharper and more confident. “Things are quicker. He’s been a lot more precise.”

While learning the role of a starting quarterback as a sophomore, Combs showed his inexperience with several turnovers a year ago, a malady that young passers must overcome.

“The turnovers were very high. And we’ve talked about that,” Claas said. “He’s gotten better. Everything is one step quicker for him this year.”

Combs’s speed on the ground will be another asset. As a sophomore last spring, he was a member of several sprint relays on the track team. “He’s probably underrated as a runner,” Claas said. “Hopefully, he will be helpful in the running game.”

Senior Hunter Cole will likely be one of Combs’s main targets downfield. He led last year’s team in receiving touchdowns. “He’s one of the faster kids in the conference,” Claas said. “He’ll be a big part of it.”

Cole finished last season with 16 catches for 299 yards and five touchdowns.

Another top receiver will be junior Bryce Ott, who Claas refers to as “Mr. Reliable.”

Sophomore Rylee Robinson and seniors Zollie Robertson and Evan Weldon will also rotate in and out of the receiving corps this season.

“We’ll mix in, and we’ll put guys in situations to succeed,” said Claas. “We’re not going to be stuck on one guy all season.”

In the backfield, All-Conference running back Hayven Samuels will return to the starting lineup this season. Last year, he racked up 459 yards and five rushing touchdowns on 108 carries, and the Bulldogs expect even more production in 2023. The senior is widely considered the strongest athlete, pound for pound, in the school. “He plays a lot bigger than he is,” Claas said. “He’s strong and powerful and has really good vision.”

Sophomore Caleb Sager will also see time at running back after earning varsity time a year ago. Junior Keagan Morris is expected to see action at the full back position. 

“We’re going to do whatever we can to get the ball into as many of our athletes’ hands. We have to use the guys we have,” Claas said.

The Bulldogs return three seniors to the offensive and defensive lines. One of those was Gavin Samuels, who earned All-Conference honors on both sides of the ball last year. As a junior last season, he made 67 total tackles, eight of which were for losses.

Last season, Coach Hopkins said he put Samuels in front of the opposing team’s best lineman in every game.

Samuels, Austin Starbuck, and Andrew Morris will make up what is expected to be a three-man defensive line. They will also lineup at guard, center, guard, on offense, with Starbuck snapping the ball. “We have three seniors up front, and that’s been great,” Claas said.

Sophomore Bender Wardrip and cornerback Hunter Cole also return as key members of the Bulldogs’ defense.

Harrisburg will likely have several sophomores starting at linebacker, including Victor Shouse, Rylee Robinson, and Caleb Sagers. “They’re green. But they’re very capable,” Claas said. “They’re big kids, and they like to be physical.”

While Harrisburg will enter the season as the defending champions of the Lewis & Clark Conference, Claas said his team hasn’t discussed the significance much. This will be the final season for Harrisburg as a member of this conference. “It’s come up a little bit,” Claas said. “We just take it day by day and let the pieces fall as they may. If that’s a conference championship, great. We just want to get better day by day.”

While having a small, inexperienced squad isn’t ideal, especially for a first-year coach, Claas has experience with just this situation. During his first year with Clark County, the team played around a dozen sophomores on defense. 

“I’ve seen it before, and at times it can be challenging,” he said. “But you reap the rewards down the road. We’ve got seniors with a lot of experience and a really good group of sophomores who are going to get their feet wet. We’ll adjust, and things will get better as we go along.”

Claas and his coaching staff got their first taste of how the team will perform at the preseason jamboree held on Friday at Central Methodist University in Fayette. The Bulldogs lined up against conference rivals Fayette and Salisbury, along with North Callaway.

Coach Claas said it was nice to line up against another team. With only 19 players on his squad, the Bulldogs have not been able to fully scrimmage in practice. “It was nice seeing someone else. It was time to line up against somebody else, someone who didn’t know what we were doing. We can’t practice like that because of our numbers. So that’s valuable for us.”

Overall, Claas said there were highs and lows to take away from the annual preseason scrimmage. He said while there are plenty of things on which to work, for his team, it’s all about getting better day by day.

Combs had a good first look Friday, snapping passes around the field. “He started out really good. He made some good decisions,” Claas said. “I’d like to see him run a few more. But overall, it was pretty good.”

Claas said he kept the running game fairly vanilla for the scrimmage, but he mostly liked what he saw. “We did pretty well. There are some adjustments we could make on the fly. But that will come later.”

Harrisburg will make the long trip to Cabool for the season opener on Friday. The Bulldogs won last season’s opening matchup 22-14 at home.

“The big thing down there is going to be staying focused. It’s a long bus ride,” Claas said. “It’s going to be hot. We have to take care of our bodies first and foremost.”

The Bulldogs are on the road again in Week 2, where they will face Claas’s former team, Clark County. Harrisburg opens its home campaign on September 8 against Marceline.

The Bulldogs easily handled the normally formidable Tigers 34-8 last year. It marked the first win over Marceline in program history.

This will be the final season as a member of the Lewis & Clark Conference for Harrisburg, Marceline, and Fayette. The Tigers announced they will join the Grand River Conference starting next fall. Harrisburg and Fayette both voted to leave the L&C to form a new, yet unnamed conference with Cole County R-1 (Russellville), Cole County R-V (Eugene), New Bloomfield R-IlI, Osage County R-II (Linn), and South Callaway R-Il starting next year.