Hays High and Great Bend like Hatfields and McCoys
Austin Klaus has been enveloped in the Hays High-Great Bend rivalry since he was little. His dad, Brad, played for the Indians in the 1970s and told his young son about classic games decided in the late innings on a clutch hit.
As a kid, Austin attended rivalry games between the two schools and wanted to have a chance to play in the annual contests.
"Going out and seeing Hays High win was always something I look forward to and got excited for," he said.
Years later, Klaus, now a Hays High senior and shortstop on the baseball team, has enjoyed his opportunity in the rivalry that spans decades and generations.
Klaus will face Great Bend for the last time in the regular season when the Indians play the Panthers in Hays High's home opener Tuesday at 4 p.m. at HHS field.
"Our guys have been wanting to get back home and get in front of a home crowd and to play and against Great Bend, there is no better way to do that," he said.
There are few Kansas high school rivalries better than the Indians-Panthers. While some schools have an intense matchup in one or two sports, HHS and Great Bend, both in the Western Athletic Conference, are hard fought in every sport. The two schools are 63 miles apart, the closest conference trip for the two schools. It's a rivalry built on proximity, the same classification (both are in 5A) and respect of long-standing coaches and traditional powers.
"I just think whatever is in season," Frank Leo, Indian baseball coach since 1981, said. "Whether it be wrestling, basketball, football, boys, girls."
"It is kind of like KU-Missouri or KU-K. State at the collegiate level," Rick Keltner, Indian head basketball coach, co-head cross country coach and assistant track coach, added.
It's intense in even the smaller sports like cross country and soccer. When Keltner first came to Hays High 23 years ago, Great Bend was a state powerhouse in cross country.
"That was a team we wanted to be like," Keltner said.
The HHS girls' squad has passed the Panthers in recent seasons, including defeating them to win several WAC championships. In soccer, HHS head coach Chris Michaelis, the coach for both the boys and girls' squads, never has to get his players prepared to Great Bend.
"Sometimes for other games, it's a little hard to get players motivated for an opponent," he said. "I don't really have to do much to get them ready for Great Bend."
Boys' basketball and baseball, two sports that are perennial powers at Hays High and at Great Bend, always have terrific matchups.Keltner, who has made four state appearances with the boys' basketball team, expects to beat the Panthers every season.
In 2004, when Brock Nehls and Brady Maska were seniors, one player wrote down a preseason goal of beating Great Bend. Keltner admonished the player -- beating Great Bend is an understood goal every season.
"That is not going to be on our goal list," Keltner said. "Because that is something that I think we are supposed to do, and if we don't do it, it is a credit to Great Bend."
Hays High has beaten Great Bend in several sub-state championship games and key regular season contests.
Keltner severely dislikes losing to Great Bend twice in one season, and if the Panthers win the first game, he'll work his players a little more starting a few days before the second contest.
"I am almost juvenile junior high-ish about things that we did the first time that are not acceptable," Keltner said. "Our kids usually respond."
That's happened frequently this decade.
In 2000, HHS was down two and had to intentionally miss a free throw. The Indians did and Marcus Watts tipped in the miss to tie the game. Great Bend eventually won the contest, 69-66, in overtime. That year, both teams went to the state tournament, with Hays High finishing fourth.
Three years later, the two teams had several classic matchups. Great Bend defeated Hays High by four points and in overtime during the regular season. In the sub-state final, though, the Indians defeated the Panthers by three to move into the state tournament. Great Bend won state championships in 2005 and 2006, but HHS defeated them in both years during the regular season. In one year, it was Great Bend's only loss.
"Both teams fought for every loose ball, fought for every rebound, play good defense and have kids that make plays," Keltner said.
This year, Hays High collected two memorable wins against Great Bend, including one that bridged history.
In early January, the Indians, in front of a packed student section from both sides, went with an all-senior lineup for the first time and defeated Great Bend 74-69 in Hays. Senior Jason Ball hit a shot in the final minutes and a defensive stop in the last 45 seconds gave HHS the victory.
"That is the way most games have gone," Keltner said.
The players formed a mosh pit with the student section on the court to celebrate the win and moshed again in the locker room, a special occasion reserved for key victories.
A few days before the second meeting, Keltner reminded his players HHS hadn't won in Great Bend for several years. One season, though, the Indians beat the Panthers on the road in 2003. At the end of the game, with a Hays High victory in hand, Kyle Parker walked up to Keltner and the two started laughing and talking.
"When we relax, we can play well," Keltner said.
In the regular season's last game, on Feb. 22, the Indians crushed the Panthers on Great Bend's homecoming 56-33, the biggest margin of victory for HHS all season.
Senior guard Austin Dreiling remembered Keltner's story from practice. Keltner took out Dreiling late in the game and Dreiling walked up to his coach.
"Talk to me coach," Dreiling said.
Keltner looked at him quizzically, "What are you talking about?"
"I just want you to be able to tell kids someday that towards the end of the Great Bend game you and I stood and talked and laughed," Dreiling said.
"You got it," Keltner said with a laugh and smile.
Weeks later, Keltner remembers the margin of victory, one of the biggest ever in the rivalry. When a reporter referred to the win as by "20 or so," Keltner corrected him.
"23," he said with a laugh and a smile.
Baseball has been the same way, too. The two teams are in annual contention for a state title and both coaches have a long-time connection to the rivalry. Leo is the longest-tenured HHS coach with 27 years, while Great Bend head coach Jeff Langrehr (also the head coach in basketball) was a player when Leo first started coaching. Langrehr, the coach at Great Bend for 21 years, has won two state titles in baseball, in 1995 and 1998. Hays High has captured 10 WAC titles under Leo, reached state eight times and finished second or third five times. HHS has not had a losing season since 1988 and has won 15 games every year but one since 1993. This year, Great Bend won its first eight games after a 18-2 regular season in 2007, while HHS is 4-2.
"Just keep on reloading," Leo said. "They do a good job with their kids and we feel like we are on the same way. We don't ever want to think we are rebuilding, we just want to keep on reloading, put more shells in the gun and keep going after people."
"You have kids that don't play with fear and go out and compete. I think that is the sign of a good program and we feel like our kids do that and I think they do the same thing down there," Leo added.
Even more so in baseball, the two teams have decided who goes to the state tournament. In 1998, HHS entered its regional game with Great Bend with a 20-1 record and set team marks that still stand with a .395 batting average and 238 runs.
"You feel like that was the best team we ever had," Leo said. "We had every facet of the game going."
However, Great Bend defeated the Indians 3-2 in the regional championship, the fewest runs the Panthers scored in a game all season.
"That was a memorable game, a tough one, one that you don't want to have to dwell on too long," Leo said.
HHS has also defeated Great Bend several times, most recently in an 8-7 win in the sub-state championship game to advance to state in 2005. This season, Tuesday's doubeleheader could provide another thrilling matchup -- and springboard a possible playoff game.
"As an Indian, this is the one you look forward to," said Klaus, something he has known and experienced since he was little.