CRAIG, Mo. -- Sixteen football players on one knee listened ascoach Josh Petersen chided them for a lackluster practice Wednesdayafternoon.
After soaking in the words, all sixteen -- nine from Craig, sevenfrom Fairfax -- put a hand in the middle of a huddle. 'One, two,three -- TEAM,' they shouted in unison.
Two days before the cooperating programs' first game, there wasstill work left to do. But they broke huddle as the Craig Hornets.
'It's just one team right now; we're all one team,' Craig juniorJordan Showalter said.
The road to tonight's game at North Nodaway is a complicated one.
While cooperative agreements enter their third year in Missouri,Craig and Fairfax -- separated by 11.5 miles of U.S. Highway 59 --are the first two schools with separate football programs tocooperate. Last winter, the two school boards agreed to co-op in allsports starting with the 2008-2009 season.
But the preeminent need seemed to be in football.
Both squads competed last year with about 11 players, give ortake. Just five years ago, Fairfax was unable to field a team, whileCraig failed to win a single game between 2000 and September 2004.The numbers didn't drastically increase with the 16 kids currentlyon the practice field, but without the co-op agreement, both teamswould have been in danger.
Fall practice started Aug. 11 across the state, and only 13players showed up at Craig. Participation eventually increased to ashigh as 24 before settling back at 16.
'As long as these guys are committed, I'm happy with them,'Showalter said. 'I don't want guys out here that don't want to play.We can field eight guys, and that's all you need to play. I'm happywith the number.'
Numbers aside, optimism permeates the small squad.
'I expect to compete in every game,' Showalter said. 'Whateverthat means, we'll find out, but definitely compete, and I feel wehave a chance to win each one.'
While the first few practices contained awkward moments forplayers and coaches, eventually names were learned, and the playerssettled into their new routine. Each day the Fairfax contingenttakes a bus ride down the road to Craig for practice, but once offthe bus, the players aren't students at separate schools butteammates.
The only way to distinguish the difference between players onWednesday were a few stray Fairfax green belts hanging below blue,gold or white Craig practice jerseys.
'The Craig guys have been real welcoming,' Fairfax senior MichaelKerr said. 'They haven't treated us any different than one of theirown teammates, so it's been pretty easy.
'The bus ride is just like walking to practice, I guess.'
Getting to the practices isn't the only change. The two-hoursessions run completely different.
Wednesday's practice contained a mixture of dropped passes,mistimed cadences and lackadaisical scout-team defense reminiscentof past Fairfax or Craig squads. But in the negatives lies thebiggest positive.
There is a scout team.
None of the current players ever had a full eight guys toscrimmage against prior to this season, and there's competition forplaying time. Showalter called the full-speed scrimmages a luxury,but to most teams, it serves as the norm.
'Not only do they know what they're doing,' Petersen said, 'theyget to see what they're doing and see how things line up and howthey need to line up against different formations and differentsets.'
The welded-together Hornets don't debut in front of a home crowduntil Sept. 5 against Norborne. And thanks to a special agreement,the Hornets' final two regular-season games will be at Bulldog Fieldup the road in Fairfax -- a special opportunity for the sevenplayers from Fairfax.
'We want to win up there definitely, us Fairfax kids. We want toshow them we can do it,' Kerr said.
But the season starts today on a bus ride from Craig to Hopkins,where the Hornets play North Nodaway in the season opener and whenthe Hornets take the field for the first time as one.
'We'll get to see what we're made up of as a team and what we'recapable of,' Petersen said.
Assistant sports editor Ross Martin can be reached atrossmartin@npgco.com
