JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown High School football team enters the 2024 season with an experienced roster looking to get back to the top.
“The expectations are the same every year,” said Blue Jays head coach Bill Nelson. “They haven’t changed. We have the same attitude, the same mentality and we want to get better and better every day. Yes, it’s a football thing, it’s a mental thing, it’s top to bottom everything we have to do to continue to get better as a team and as a program. We talk about it all the time, we’re more concerned about the name on the front of the jersey than the name on the back of the jersey.”
Last year, the Blue Jays lost 14-13 to Grand Forks Central in the 2023 NDHSAA Class A Football State Semifinals, ending their dreams of a third consecutive state title.
“That hurt. We talk about it sometimes, but that was last year,” Blue Jays quarterback Ryan Kallenbach said. “So we can’t really think about it, but we’ll use it as fuel for this year to do better.”
Nelson said it will help his players to play other sports and train year-round. Although the Blue Jays will be very experienced this year, Nelson said his team must continue to work every day to improve.
“The potential is there, you’d think, to be pretty solid. But if you don’t show up and put in the work and come in with the right attitude, in Double A or Triple A, anybody can beat anybody on any given night,” he said. “So we have to do those little things, day in and day out. It’s a year-round thing. We’re constantly trying to get better.”
The Blue Jays are led by quarterback Kallenbach, who appeared in 11 games last year and completed 56.3% of his passes for 1,729 yards, 21 touchdowns and six interceptions.
This season, Kallenbach will play in front of an almost entirely new offensive line, as four of last season’s five regular players have graduated.
“I think it’s good and it’s one where when you do the first few live reps on the varsity team on a Friday night, you see bullets flying pretty quickly and he’s adjusted and gotten better and better and now it comes down to understanding where the protections are or aren’t going to be,” Nelson said. “If we’ve got six in pass defense and they’ve got seven lined up rushing, then you better know where the free rushers are coming from, where’s the gap, where’s the hot route, where’s my quick release point? It’s time under center… this summer he’s thrown the ball with quite a bit of conviction, put in a lot of time and we’re going to do some additional things at the quarterback position that we probably haven’t done a lot.”
The only returning player on the offensive line is Vaughn Romsdal, one of a group of seniors who Nelson said he expects to have a great season.
“I’m really excited about our O-line (offense),” Kallenbach said. “We have a lot of guys, really fast, athletic guys, who are going to play until the final whistle. I’m looking forward to it.”
Nelson said one of the recipes for a successful team is a group that likes each other and is friends with each other. Nelson said his veteran team needs a lot of leaders and the best leaders tell their teammates the uncomfortable truths at different points. He said he is excited to see the “puzzle pieces” come together as the season progresses and how his team comes together and how the young guys get involved and do their jobs.
“It all comes down to chemistry, how well your kids get along,” Nelson said. “How well do they interact with each other? How well do they care for each other? How well do they work together? That’s a huge, huge part of it that people behind the scenes don’t understand. It’s not just something that starts on August 12, you’re doing things together all the time.”
The coaching staff will look very familiar to fans of the Blue Jays and the University of Jamestown. Nelson hired former Jimmies and Blue Jays star Paul Vandal, as well as former Jimmies Steve Justice and Brady Birch.
Nelson said Justice will be the freshman team’s offensive coordinator and assist the first-team running backs, while Birch will serve as an assistant for the freshman team. Former Jimmies wide receivers coach Tyler Spanton will also take over the Blue Jays’ wide receivers coaching job.
“It speaks volumes,” Nelson said. “When I introduced our coaches last week and said who was going to be there, he (Vandal) was standing in the back and nobody had turned around and seen him, and when I said his name, the kids got excited. That’s pretty cool, the fact that they saw him play at UJ for several years, being very successful and playing at a high level. Something like that, the Pro Day opportunity is obviously something that doesn’t come around very often. He got a chance to develop in the UJ program and take it to a whole different level than when he competed in high school. You’re pretty proud and also pretty excited that he wants to give back and help. When you talk about him, from his time in high school to the point he’s gotten to in high school, it’s pretty impressive.”
These aren’t the only changes to the Jays’ coaching staff: Former wide receivers coach Phil Kroeber was promoted to offensive coordinator following the departure of Tom Maus. Nelson also said Kroeber will work with the Blue Jays’ quarterbacks this year. However, Nelson said the changes will be very minimal, as Kroeber will not completely change the playbook used by Maus.
After Sara Sletto graduates, Nelson will return to the Blue Jays football staff to find his next kicker, Brady Harty.
“Obviously he has to earn it, just like anybody else,” Nelson said. “… I’ve known Brady since he was little, football is definitely his main sport, he’s going to be like Sara and Louis were last year.”
Nelson said one of his team’s best assets will be that they have as much skill at the skill positions as they do at the skill positions. The Blue Jays return four players who each rushed for over 100 yards this season, with Kelan Harstad leading the group with 88 carries for 391 yards and five touchdowns. In the air, the Blue Jays’ Nate Walz was the best receiver, catching 58 passes for 851 yards and 13 touchdowns.
“I just have to have a little better (season) than last year, even though it’s been pretty good,” Walz said. “I’m trying to do my best.”
The Blue Jays open their season at Grand Forks Central on Aug. 30. Nelson said the schedule for that matchup is still unclear since the Knights lost 22 players from last year’s team, but he said it will be difficult to compete against the “most physical team” his team has played all year.
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
