Sports

RETURN TO ’TONKA As has been the case for roughly a decade, Excelsior Springs will start its varsity boys soccer campaign with a tournament. Specifically, the Winnetonka Tournament.

Excelsior Springs varsity football coach Jake Danneman was impressed with how his Tigers concluded their series of June 7-on-7 scrimmage sessions at Kearney. “We had shown quite the improvement over the weeks on both sides of the ball,” Danneman stated Monday via email.

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Through some divine guidance, two 8-man youth football teams are forming in Orrick. Led by Drew Schoeneck, plans are underway to form one team for grades 3-4 and another for grades 5-6.

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I’ve got soccer on the brain again, thanks in part to a recent assignment. As you might recall, I covered a soccer camp in late May at Tiger Stadium.

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS AND RICHMOND student-athletes compete in a passing drill during a joint summer football camp focused on fundamentals, teamwork and preseason preparation.

The next chapter of Orrick High School football will be written by someone who once carried the water bottles and wore the jersey under the Friday night lights. Matthew O’Dell, a 2009 graduate of Orrick and two-time state champion, has been named the new head football coach, returning to lead the program that shaped his youth.