Returning letter winners of the 2024 Trojan football squad are (front row, l-r) Kaden Schmidt, Tucker Reicks, Parker Reicks, Logan Busta, Hunter Kruse; (back row) Treyton Franzen, Cale Langreck, Traejin Keel, Mitchell Kriener, Jordan Kriener and JD Kruse. (Photo by Becky Walz)
Turkey Valley has some holes to fill – no doubt about it.
But if there’s one thing that Mark Scott’s gridiron squads have proven over the years – his Trojans have no problem reloading, because the term “rebuild” rarely applies to his tradition-rich program.
Scott begins his 22nd season this fall as head man of his Trojan football squad and the task at hand in 2024 will be replacing both of his starting linebackers and over 77 percent of his rushing yards gained last fall.
That can be a problem in prep football, especially at the 8-Man level, where TV has been classified since 2014.
But if the past is any indication, the boys from Jackson Junction should be just fine.
“We’re gonna be okay. We’ve got some athletes running around, as long as we stay healthy,” said Scott. “Probably our biggest concern is injuries up front.”
Key ingredients
Turkey Valley – who qualified for the playoffs for the 20th time in program history last fall – is thin up front but has two key weapons on offense back in juniors Logan Busta (quarterback) and J.D. Kruse (split end).
Busta, starting for the first time under center last year as a sophomore, led the Trojans to the playoffs for the third consecutive season. He’s a prototypical high school quarterback, as he stands six feet and is listed at 180 pounds.
Busta can do it all in between the stripes as he threw for 13 touchdowns – was picked off just twice – and amassed 637 yards passing. His quarterback rating was a stellar 127.7. The ace of Dan Stepan’s pitching staff out on the diamond last summer also ran for 159 yards and scored four TDs on the ground. Busta will need to improve on his completion percentage, which was 55 percent on 41 completions versus 74 attempts.
“He’s gotten a little bigger,” said Scott. “He’s got a year of experience underneath his belt playing varsity. We’ll probably have to use Logan more in the run game than previously.”
His favorite target is, of course, Kruse, who led his entire class with a 24.7 yards-per-catch (YPC) average and found the end zone six times. Kruse didn’t crack the top tier list on YPC on gobound.com because the criteria listed 30 catches as a minimum requirement. He hauled in 13 receptions for 321 yards and has serious play-making capability.
Kruse is also an all-state caliber defender in the secondary as evident by his six picks hauled in at his cornerback slot and 46 tackles.
“We’ll probably have to figure out more ways to get J.D. the ball, too,” said Scott. “He might be involved in the run game every now and then, too.”
Now gone
Gone to graduation are TV’s top two running backs and linebackers – all-stater Oliver Schmitt and hard-running, as well as hard-hitting – Burke Busta.
Schmitt was second in all of 8-Man last year with 2,001 all-purpose yards and was one of TV’s most productive football standouts all-time. He gained 1,124 yards rushing (18 touchdowns) his final year as a Trojan and was a pass-catching threat out of the backfield with five receiving touchdowns. Schmitt was second-team all-state at linebacker with 82 tackles (61 solo). Schmitt finished his tremendous TV gridiron career with 2,474 yards and 38 rushing touchdowns.
Burke Busta cranked out 423 yards on the ground and amassed six rushing scores. He was a stout defender with 72.5 stops at linebacker.
Time to step up
TV will utilize a whole host of bodies to replace Schmitt and Burke Busta in the offensive backfield. Those players include sophomores Hugo Busta, Kaden Schmidt and Cale Langreck. Langreck is also the team’s backup quarterback. Freshman Treyton Franzen and sophomore Parker Reicks will also see a lot of time at fullback.
Tucker Reicks, a junior, is also slotted in at the other receiver position alongside Kruse.
Hunter Kruse, a junior, will man the center position. The returning starter is rock solid at that spot and was named honorable-mention all-district last year.
The other two starting guards will be junior Traejin Keel and sophomore Jordan Kriener. Juniors Wyatt Maklenburg and Eli Holthaus will serve as backups on the line.
“We’re going to be young and inexperienced,” said Scott. “The kids have grown, though. They’re a year older and a couple of them are 10, 20 pounds heavier than they were, so that’s going to help out. You can look good against air and on paper, but when it comes to contact – who’s gonna be able to actually get in there and move bodies?”
Kriener – along with his twin brother Mitchell Kriener – are penciled in as TV’s starting defensive ends. Jordan is a returning starter on defense and was an honorable-mention all-district pick as a freshman last fall. He came up with 32 tackles.
Scott will likely mix and match early on in the season at his linebacker slots with sophomore Treyton Franzen, Schmidt, Parker Reicks and Tucker Reicks vying for playing time.
“On defense we still got some question marks, obviously,” said Scott.
Kruse will more than likely be a stalwart up front in the middle of the defensive line.
Logan Busta, Kruse, along with Hugo Busta, Schmidt and Langreck are Scott’s secondary standouts.
A look at 2024 season
Once again TV will head down to Polk County to play on the artificial turf of Valley Stadium in West Des Moines this fall. The season opener is slated to go down on the West Des Moines Valley Tigers’ home field under the lights against Fremont-Mills on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. Fremont-Mills, nicknamed the Tigers, went 4-5 last year and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Bedford (65-14).
“They’re quite similar to us, actually,” said Scott. “They like to run the ball, be physical. They had a heavy senior class. They’re quarterback is back. They have two linemen that play quite a bit back. It’s pretty evenly matched.”
TV played at Valley Stadium last year in the afternoon game and came away with a 38-28 victory over Coon Rapids-Bayard – which went a long way toward the Trojans cracking the playoffs.
TV (5-4) lost to Clarksville in the first round of the playoffs last fall by a score of 68-26.
The Trojans have just three home games this year – West Central, Waterloo Christian and Riceville.
There are 331 high school football teams that compete in seven different classes on the prep level in Iowa. There surely won’t be many across the state that will be in Turkey Valley’s boat this season as the Trojans sport no seniors on their roster.
“It makes Senior Night short,” smiled Scott, who has guided TV to 14 playoff appearances.
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