HUNTINGBURG – Southridge prevailed as outright champions of the Pocket Athletic Conference’s Small School division as part of an 8-3 in 2024, but a new challenge presents itself this season – because the Raiders have moved to Division I in the PAC – aligning with larger schools in the conference.

“We’ve already played Boonville, Gibson Southern, Heritage Hills – those guys have basically finished right at or around the top three in the conference – the big school conference – since its inception,” Raiders coach Scott Buening said. “And we’ve always played those guys and love the challenge of playing those schools and the small schools had some really good teams, too.

“So, really…Washington, we haven’t played them much,” Buening continued. “Mt. Vernon, we’ve crossed paths a couple times in the tournament over the last few years – and then Princeton, I’m not sure if we’ve ever played Princeton – if not, I know it’s been a long time (archives show the Raiders and Tigers last played Oct. 16, 1992, a 33-7 game in Princeton’s favor); and so, we’re excited about having some variety on our schedule – getting an opportunity to play some different schools here in the area and challenge is challenge. And that’s what we want to do and whoever we play, we’re trying to be the best version of us that we can be and these opponents are certainly going to help us find that.”

The good news for the Raiders is the only time they’ll see the Pats is the scheduled Sept. 12 game in Lincoln City, as Heritage Hills being moved up to Class 4A means it is out of Southridge’s sectional; but if the Raiders want to win their division, they’ll still have to work around the challenge of playing a Pats team with key returners from last year’s Class 3A State Championship season and having senior SEC commits Jett Goldsberry (Ole Miss) and Tyler Ruxer (Oklahoma).

“While that will be an important game, I think, when we get to that point – our focus really does stay on us,” Buening said. “And regardless of – we’ve got North Posey coming up Week One, and I’ll tell you, we really haven’t thought much beyond them.”

And even then, the 13th-year Raider coach told The Herald July 29 the focus will be on the team putting their pieces together the best they can, with the hopes of creating much depth as they can – more than just the starters, but how many they can get ready to play Friday night, and also how to best utilize the players who are ready to play on Friday nights.

Buening won’t have to worry too much about depth at the quarterback position. Justin Leathers returns for his senior year and found some successes in the position last year with 103.6 rushing yards per game and 19 total touchdowns, according to MaxPreps.com – and even when Leathers missed some time, the Raiders bring back junior Parker Steckler, who saw reps at that spot when Leathers was out.

“Both are starting varsity quarterbacks,” he said. “I do think they both could very easily start for a lot of schools in the area – and that’s certainly a blessing for us to have that kind of depth and experience and talent at that position. Both have had tremendous summers, both have worked really hard together, both are very willing to do whatever it is to help us be successful. And to be frank, we’re still working through that and what we want to do.”

Those two might be back, but some key personnel from the 2024 squad graduated, including All-PAC Small School running back Noah Wright, who complemented Leathers in the backfield last season. So, if Leathers is once again at quarterback in 2025 or if he’s a part of the backfield in some way, others will have to fill in the void that Wright left.

“That’s a tremendous point – Justin is, he’s really good with the ball in his hands,” Buening said. “He can play off script, which I think is really important for a high school quarterback and shoot, that might be when he’s at his best – but yeah, him and Parker both that we just talked about. And (senior) Zack Russell is a returning starter from last year, he’s played some varsity downs since his freshman year and really, I think kind of found himself last year – and he’s a good, strong, hard working kid, he’s a good receiver, he’s a good blocker and he’s really good with the ball in his hands – so he’s one we’ll really be counting on.

“(Senior) Caden Kramer, when he got some opportunity last year towards the end of the year when Noah Wright went down, I think he had maybe a 300-yard game against Mt. Vernon,” he continued. “He’s a tremendous athlete for his size, he can really run – a tough, hardnosed kid. He’ll be back in the backfield somewhere.”

Buening also mentioned senior Cooper Sherman, and thinks Sherman started to trust his abilities during baseball season last year and lauded him for having a really good summer. Another senior, Cam Haywood, will play receiver and can get reps at slot or in the run game, plus maybe juniors Hudson Montgomery and Sam Gasser, who predominantly played receiver last year, plus sophomore Grayson Bolling, another one who’s caught the Raider coach’s attention this summer, is another option in the backfield.

He noted the Raiders try to be versatile, but not balanced, when it comes to offense. He described being versatile as the ability to use one’s tools based on what the defense is giving them, but run/throw percentage doesn’t matter to him. Buening knows, however, the Raiders need to be versatile enough and have the ability to throw the ball when the opposition loads the box.

Some noted skill players might be back for the Raiders, but up front is a completely different story. The offensive line is bound to see some fresh faces after the graduations of left tackle Noah Owens, left guard Davis Schwartz, center Olan Kramer, right guard Cruz Meece and right tackle Tallan Wibbeler.

“We graduated all of our starters on the offensive line from last year, and frankly, a lot of our rotators – the guys who would rotate in and play; almost all those guys were seniors,” Buening said. “(Senior) Owen Bieker – he was a reserve center last year and he’s had a nice summer and done well, anticipate him to hold down that center spot with the summer he’s had up to this point.

“We’ve moved some guys around,” he continued. “(Junior) Noah Ring was in the backfield last year and we’ve moved him down to guard – and he’s a good, hard nosed, tough kid who’s just been tremendous down there this summer. And then (junior) Erick Navarro is another one who was in the mix last year at tackle and he might find himself in games at times – we moved him to guard as well.:

He also mentioned junior Karson Wibbeler as someone working in at guard and center, while different names got mentioned for spots at tackle.

“Gavin Hubster, he’s a sophomore,” Buening said. “Max Hentrup is a junior, Blayden Lanman-Hewitt, he’s going to be a sophomore; and then we’ve got a freshman who’s in that mix as well – Brody Hildebrand. And really, all four of them have just continued to get better…They need some seasoning, they just need to continue to get reps in practices and reps in games, but they’ve worked really hard and are coming along.”

Buening’s squad also has some questions to answer when it comes to their front seven, such as Zander Duncan being gone and also a linebacker in Schwartz, who got named the Defensive Captain on the PAC’s Small School Team in 2024

And the coach knows how big of a loss Schwartz is in the middle, citing him a leader in the front group, but certain people are going to have to step in and step up.

“Caden Kramer’s going to be a two-year starter – he has all the capabilities to be that type of player,” he continued. “This year, I think we’re going to count on him to play both ways, which can be a challenge, especially at the positions he plays; but we think he’s capable of doing that. Noah Ring right now, he’s kind of a front runner, I guess, to slide in at inside linebacker, but we also like Grayson Bolling and (junior) Clint Wirthwein in those two spots – they’ve had really good summers.

“Our front line, (senior) Chase Bowman played quite a bit last year – he’s a good, hardnosed on the defensive line,” Buening continued. “Zack Russell will probably slide at either outside linebacker, possibly some d-end, he’s just a good athlete with a good nose to the football, and we try to put him in position to do those things. Hudson Montgomery’s playing some outside linebacker, along with Owen Bieker and (junior) Eli Harris has had a really good summer – I’ve been really happy with him and the things that he’s done.”

The Raiders might have to fill some offensive and defensive spots, but they need not worry about replacing their secondary. Leathers, an All-Conference safety, is back, so is another safety in Steckler, while Haywood and junior Sam Gasser are back at corner – and those two can be ballhawks, as Southridge’s MaxPreps page listed Haywood with seven interceptions last year, while Gasser grabbed four picks.

So, it’s nice for Buening not to have to worry about that area too much.

“We put a ton on our safeties especially,” he said. “They’ve got to be a factor in the run game, they’ve got to be able to organize different coverages and adjustments and formation adjustments – and a ton gets put on those guys’ plate. And they have a lot to do and a lot to know and a lot to figure out.”

He again pointed to Montgomery, whom he likened to as a Swiss Army knife, who’s putting in some work at safety in addition to getting outside linebacker reps. Most of Montgomery’s time last year came at safety, and Buening noted the importance of Southridge needing its safeties being able to play outside linebacker.

The Raiders graduated a reliable kicker in Bryan Cruz, though they bring back Russell as a punter, but Southridge typically doesn’t spend a lot of time on special teams. However, it’s something they planned to focus really on beginning in the first week of August.

There just might be state champions who can come out of the PAC again, such as Heritage Hills winning it all in Class 3A last year, or the Pats and North Posey making it to the state championship games in their respective classes two years ago. There’s also the possibility a state champion might come out of Southridge’s sectional, which is not going to be immensely easier just because Heritage Hills is now in 4A.

But why not the Raiders? Why can’t they put together a good postseason run this year?

After all, their coach fails to see why not, though they’re not trying to be prognosticators.

“I’m not real big into, ‘Hey, are you guys going to go win nine games, seven games, two games – how many games are you going to win this year?'” Buening said. “I don’t know, we’ll see (laughs), but we’re going to try like crazy to win the next one and we really don’t get beyond that – we’re never going to look at a game and say, ‘Boy, we can’t win that one,’ and we also respect our opponents and the game of football enough to know there’s no guarantee that we are going to win the next one or not going to win the next one.

“We just don’t operate in that world and can’t – I just know that we’re going to play as hard as we can, we’re going to prepare as hard as we can, we’re going to train as hard as we can, we’re going to continue to grow and play for each other,” he continued. “And as we do those things, it’ll be what it’ll be, and I know we’re excited about the kids we have. And like I said, there’s a lot of young kids trying to get thrown in this mix – more so than typical; but our older guys, we like them, too, and they’ve done a lot of good. And we just got to see how it comes together, and we’ll see how it plays out.”

The team is scheduled Aug. 8 to hold their Raider Nation scrimmage, while being slated Aug. 15 to welcome Perry Central to Raider Field for the scrimmage before it’s set to be go time Aug. 22 against the Vikings in Poseyville.

“North Posey’s basically not even two years removed from a state championship appearance,” Buening said. “And they’ve got some really high-end kids and that’s always a tough road trip to make – I think we’ve lost the last two times we’ve went over there (last winning in Poseyville in 2019) and it’s always, always a hard, hard place for us to play. And a lot of that’s because they’ve got good coaches and good players.”