HSFT Stop #50: Koscuisko
Three wins. Two losses. And a trip to the state championship. That was the story of Kosciusko football a year ago. While the Whippets came up short of a state title, they gained something that can’t be taught: experience. Now entering his seventh season at the helm, head coach Casey Orr has a group that’s been through some of the biggest moments high school football has to offer — including a state championship game.
“It’s a very talented bunch of young men. A lot of guys have played a lot of football. They’ve experienced a lot, been in big games, been in big games at home, big games on the road, played in the state championship last year,” Orr said. “So, big for experience-wise. We know we’ve got what we need in that aspect of things. We just need them to really grow into the leaders they’re going to be and just not get complacent.”
That experience has created a standard, and for the seniors who were part of last year’s run, there’s no hiding from the fact that they want another shot.
“My guys, they know what they’re going to get from me, and they know what they’re going to get from all the other senior players and stuff like that. So, I just ask for effort,” Kosciusko lineman Rylee Peteet said. “The end goal is to get a ring. We came up short last year. It’s my senior year. All the other guys, you know, we feel like we know what we need to do.”
That expectation starts with the little things like the extra reps, the extra sprints and making sure nobody gets a pass when it comes to doing their job.
“Pushing them hard, you know, in the weight room, little ways. Don’t skip any reps. Come out here, run and do your job. Coach talks about that all the time — do your job,” Kosciusko defensive lineman Travion Nash said. “And I’m taking accountability, though, telling them that.”
For Orr, the measure of this season won’t simply be the number next to Kosciusko’s name in the win column.
It will be whether this group gets everything it has out of itself and leaves nothing behind.
“Our expectations are the same every year, and that’s to milk every drop of ability and commitment and effort that you can out of your guys,” Orr said. “At the end of the year, whenever that happens, if you know as a coach that we got everything we could out of those young men and they gave us everything they had, whatever the end result, the end result. But that’s kind of how we judge our success of a season.
“You may have a year where you’re 4-6 and those guys played above their head, and you may have a year where you’re 10-2 and you feel like you didn’t reach your potential. It’s just trying to make sure you get every ounce out of those guys and that you get them completely bought in and they’re willing to lay it on the line for the guy next to them and for the name across their chest and just go represent their community in a way that everybody’s proud of.”
The Whippets will get their first chance to put that experience to work Aug. 21, when Kosciusko opens the 2026 season against Richland.
