Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Mar-Mac Spartans: A High School Challenge

revrew · 01-27-2005, 09:38 AM

Des Moines Register
Phoenix Mar-Mac Rises to Top of 1A
McGREGOR, IA—Nearly 30 years ago, tiny Mar-Mac High School, with a total enrollment of less than 65, was consolidated with nearby MFL High School. Mar-Mac reopened this year under new redistricting, and for the first time in 50 years, the Mar-Mac Spartans fielded a football team.

How good can a first-year football program at a first-year school actually be? We'll find out Saturday, when the Mar-Mac Spartans play the West Central Blue Devils for the Class 1A Iowa State Football Championship. With two impressive wins over last year's defending champs, the North Winn Mustangs (who happen to play in Mar-Mac's conference), and an improbable win over #3 ranked Guttenberg in the State Semi-Final, Mar-Mac stands poised to do something no high school football team has done since the very first year of football in Iowa—win a state championship in its first year.

"They could do it, too," says North Winn coach, Clifton Gonzalez. "The Spartans are an impressive combination of efficiency and big-play capability. I'm not sure there's a player in the state who can stay with their tight end, and [quarterback] Lincoln Ingram runs the offense with incredible precision."

That tight end is sophomore sensation Seth Hackett, who leads the state in touchdown catches with 12. Quarterback Ingram leads the state with 32 TD strikes. But Mar-Mac coach Everett Malone sees another leader on offense: "Fullback Brant Eppbright is a man among boys," says Malone. "He outruns, outblocks, and outcatches most college fullbacks, and on third down, he's unstoppable."

Where did this crop of talent come from? In the redistricting of 2019, Clayton Heights High School and the students from the McGregor and Marquette districts that attended MFL High School were reconsolidated into the resurrected Mar-Mac High School. One of those students was 17-year-old McGregor resident, Lincoln Ingram.

"I coached for 3 years," said MFL Bulldogs coach Blaine Lehmann. "We had some great guys ahead of [Ingram], so he didn't play a lot, but you could tell he was a smart player. Of course, we didn't know he would play this well when you gave him the ball."

Ingram has played well, and so has the entire Mar-Mac team under his leadership. On Saturday, Ingram, Hackett, Eppbright, and state interception leader Hunter Flynn will storm into the UniDome wearing fresh-from-the-ashes Spartan uniforms. The Phoenix has risen. The question is, will the Blue Devils be up to the challenge?

01-27-2005, 09:38 AM	#48
revrew Team Chaplain Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Just outside Des Moines, IA	FEATURE ARTICLE - Before the title game Des Moines Register Phoenix Mar-Mac Rises to Top of 1A McGREGOR, IA—Nearly 30 years ago, tiny Mar-Mac High School, with a total enrollment of less than 65, was consolidated with nearby MFL High School. Mar-Mac reopened this year under new redistricting, and for the first time in 50 years, the Mar-Mac Spartans fielded a football team. How good can a first-year football program at a first-year school actually be? We'll find out Saturday, when the Mar-Mac Spartans play the West Central Blue Devils for the Class 1A Iowa State Football Championship. With two impressive wins over last year's defending champs, the North Winn Mustangs (who happen to play in Mar-Mac's conference), and an improbable win over #3 ranked Guttenberg in the State Semi-Final, Mar-Mac stands poised to do something no high school football team has done since the very first year of football in Iowa—win a state championship in its first year. "They could do it, too," says North Winn coach, Clifton Gonzalez. "The Spartans are an impressive combination of efficiency and big-play capability. I'm not sure there's a player in the state who can stay with their tight end, and [quarterback] Lincoln Ingram runs the offense with incredible precision." That tight end is sophomore sensation Seth Hackett, who leads the state in touchdown catches with 12. Quarterback Ingram leads the state with 32 TD strikes. But Mar-Mac coach Everett Malone sees another leader on offense: "Fullback Brant Eppbright is a man among boys," says Malone. "He outruns, outblocks, and outcatches most college fullbacks, and on third down, he's unstoppable." Where did this crop of talent come from? In the redistricting of 2019, Clayton Heights High School and the students from the McGregor and Marquette districts that attended MFL High School were reconsolidated into the resurrected Mar-Mac High School. One of those students was 17-year-old McGregor resident, Lincoln Ingram. "I coached for 3 years," said MFL Bulldogs coach Blaine Lehmann. "We had some great guys ahead of [Ingram], so he didn't play a lot, but you could tell he was a smart player. Of course, we didn't know he would play this well when you gave him the ball." Ingram has played well, and so has the entire Mar-Mac team under his leadership. On Saturday, Ingram, Hackett, Eppbright, and state interception leader Hunter Flynn will storm into the UniDome wearing fresh-from-the-ashes Spartan uniforms. The Phoenix has risen. The question is, will the Blue Devils be up to the challenge? __________________ Winner of 6 FOFC Scribe Awards, including 3 Gold Scribes Founder of the ZFL, 2004 Golden Scribe Dynasty of the Year Now bringing The Des Moines Dragons back to life, and the joke's on YOU, NFL! I came to the Crossroad. I took it. And that has made all the difference.