How Moniteau football’s first season under Clay Kohlmeyer is fueling ‘everything for years to come’
Patching up a football program sometimes goes far beyond roster numbers and Xs and Os.
Moniteau begins the 2026 schedule Aug. 28 at home against neighboring rival Karns City. The vibe around the Warriors, who went 3-7 last season, is much different than last summer, when they were smarting after an 0-10 showing in 2024.
A former Moniteau quarterback, Clay Kohlmeyer took on the task of turning the Warriors around ahead of last season. The head coach’s project began with some cosmetic repairs.
“(The coaching staff) got together, our field house needed painted,” Kohlmeyer said. “We did stuff over the winter in the field house together, talked the whole time. ... We wanted everybody to see that it was going to be different, and not just talk about it being different. We took everything out. It was fresh paint. It was white, red and black.
“We put the red and black stripes the whole way around.”
Kohlmeyer and his staff also fixed up some dated lockers and installed LED motion lights. Recently, junior guard and linebacker Bryan Hazlet joined Kohlmeyer trimming weeds around Moniteau’s stadium.
“Trying to keep the place nice, and that’s something that also wasn’t there before,” Hazlet said. “When you have a sense of care towards what you are doing, that matters.”
As a freshman, Hazlet was part of a Warriors team that was “the worst team in Moniteau football in years,” he said. “It was horrible. The town kinda stayed quiet. ... There was no hype, there was no down talk. It was just, ‘Don’t talk about Moniteau football.’”
Hazlet remembers a classmate approaching him and asking how the team was looking. Hazlet said he was excited, to which the classmate replied, “Yeah, we’re excited to see you guys lose, too.”
The Warriors started last season with 28 players. This time around, Moniteau will get going with about 35. Moniteau’s junior high program also ballooned from 14 players to 38.
About midway through the last campaign, a few students approached Kohlmeyer about joining the team and were encouraged to come out this year.
“We’ll give you a chance,” Kohlmeyer said, and four or five showed up for offseason workouts.
Kohlmeyer is plugging some of those newcomers in on the defensive line, trying to keep everyone fresh.
“Last year’s team fueled this year’s team and will fuel everything for years to come,” Hazlet said.
The Warriors started last year 2-1, beating Coudersport in their season-opener, then downing Bucktail two weeks later. The last win came on the road over Union City in October.
The impact of a 3-7 record was noticeable, not only in growing the roster, but seeing how the school and community reacted.
“Three wins may not seem like a lot when you’re comparing us to all of (District 9) and around Butler County, but those three wins ... those were powerful, putting-our-name-back-in-the-mix kind of wins,” Hazlet said. “The school started supporting us.”
“It was exactly what we wanted to do,” Kohlmeyer said. “And we were happy that we got three wins to do it. Now we just need to keep building on it.”
Kohlmeyer knows a District 9 crown isn’t a realistic goal for the Warriors in 2026. He’s trusting the process.
“We would like to go .500 this year,” Kohlmeyer said. “Make the playoffs. They moved the schedule around, and we’re playing a lot of the (Class) 1A teams. I think we can do it this year, so that would be nice just to get the kids in the playoffs for once to see what it’s like. And then I think the younger ones will start to respect the program more and want to work hard and see what we could do.”
Hazlet wants to prove any remaining doubters wrong and provide more reason for the community to support the team.
“The people that still don’t wanna join (the team), I hope that they see this and — in a sense — I hope they get jealous and I hope they wanna come and join us,” Hazlet said. “Because I’m having the most fun of my life.”
