Archie rebounds from back-to-back losses

For the first time in his seven years as the Archie football coach, Drew Smith watched his squad suffer two-straight losses.

On Friday, the Whirlwinds found themselves back in the win column – a place they’ve often been during Smith’s tenure – despite being a bit banged up on both sides of the ball.

Archie defeated Rich Hill, 46-6, on the road, picking up another WEMO Conference victory. Archie is 9-0 against Rich Hill since Smith was named head coach.

“I was really proud of our guys for bouncing back from two tough losses in a row and being shorthanded and not having a quarterback,” Smith said. “We threw together an offense for the game, and it somehow worked.”

The Whirlwinds (4-3) entered the game riding a two-game skid. They had lost only seven games in the previous six seasons, losing no more than two games in a season in addition to winning a pair of state championships.

Archie was also missing its first-, second- and third-string quarterbacks, along with an emergency QB. Smith and his staff retooled the offense in just a day.

“We’ve been emphasizing being disciplined,” Smith said. “Playing fast, physical football and being disciplined, and we’re really emphasizing the disciplined part. I think that’s been an issue in the last couple of losses all the time.”

After a four-point loss at Bishop LeBlond, Archie fell to Appleton City for the first time in 8-man football. It was a 44-25 loss to the Bulldogs, but Archie was poised to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter before the wheels fell off and Appleton City took advantage.

Appleton City, ranked No. 8 in the state, has lost only one game. The Bulldogs’ only loss came against No. 4 Lockwood in the season opener.

Although disappointed after the two losses, Smith was proud of his team for staying focused during practice last week despite having to go deep in the depth chart at a couple of positions.

Smith was especially proud of sophomore running back Jacob Goucher for his performance Friday night. Goucher led Archie with 99 yards and two touchdown on 14 carries. 

“Jacob Goucher has been awesome back there and he’s kind of taken over the starting role for us,” Smith said. “He had a great game against Appleton. He had 18 carries for 175 yards and two touchdowns. He runs really hard. Now, we have to work on his ball security a bit.”

Lake Callahan and Johnathan Basney also added 92 and 83 yards on 12 and 10 carries, respectively. Basney scored three touchdowns, while Callahan found paydirt once.

Callahan and Rylan Reynolds each had an interception in the game to help the Archie defense. Callahan returned his INT for a touchdown to put his team up 20-6 in the second quarter.

“Our defense played really well,” Smith said. “Our defensive coordinator called a good game. We were thin on linebackers and defensive backs because of injuries. Our defensive line did a good job of controlling the running lanes and they were able to get pressure on the pass.”

Archie has a big game this week. It will travel northwest across Cass County to play Midway (6-1) at 7 p.m. Friday. Midway dropped to 8-man football following the 2025 season after years of not wanting to leave 11-man football.

The Vikings’ lone loss came at home to Appleton City on Sept. 18. They finish the regular season with Archie and a road trip to Lockwood.

“I think it’s going to be a good matchup,” Smith said. “Midway likes to be physical and they want to run the ball. They have a good athlete with Blake Russ at quarterback. We’ve got to be ready to come in and control the line of scrimmage and get them out of the things they like to do.”