In making the transition from Class A 8- Man to 6-Man football, most teams have a problem adjusting to the nuances of the game.

That wasn't the case for Kevin Lindholm and the rest of his Eads teammates, as the Eagles advanced to the state championship game in their first year in the 6-Man classification.

Lindholm knew before last season started that Eads would do well, despite the transition.

"We set our goal at the start of the year to win the gold ball (the state championship trophy)," Lindholm said. "As the season went along, we knew that it was looking good that we were going to get to our goal. It was great to get to the title game and to be around that environment."

Lindholm's best offensive game last season came in the opening round of the playoffs, a road game at Woodlin, where he rushed for 131 yards and scored three times. And he caught four passes for 84 yards to help lead the Eagles to a 46-32 win, their first playoff victory since 2001.

"I had a hot game," Lindholm said. "It was pretty close throughout. There were a few times that I had wide-open holes that my teammates made for me. It helped going (to Woodlin), not knowing a lot about them; it got the adrenaline running."

The 2007 version of the Eagles should be solid again, as four starters return. The offense will be changed a bit, though, to adjust to new personnel. Last year, Eads offered a balanced attack, led the by passing of the state's best quarterback, Jacob Buck, and the running of Tyler McCracken.

With the graduation of Buck and McCracken, Eads coach Shawn Randel said it will take some time for the offense to find its way.

"I've got a few kids in the running back position and I've got a lot of development at quarterback," Randel said. "Early on, we'll have the offense focused around Kevin and, hopefully, the kids will come along sooner rather than later so we can go back to the balanced attack."

Randel said Lindholm is the type of player every coach wants to have on his team.

"The best part about Kevin is that he loves to work," Randel said. "He does everything that I ask of him without question.

"He's a very intelligent player, which is allowing me to put him at three different positions this year, giving our team different looks."

Lindholm is excited about all the possibilities.

"We should have a tough team since we have a year of experience under our belts," Lindholm said. "It's fun to plan things out before the season starts, but it's a lot more fun when the season comes and we can put all of that planning into motion."

Even though the football team fell short of winning the state championship, Lindholm and his baseball mates brought home a state championship in the spring. Which title would mean more to Lindholm, if Eads could win one in football?

"It's tough to say. I don't want to look that far ahead," Lindholm said. "But if we were to win the title this year, I would have to say that it would feel about the same."

NOTEBOOK

• A new era in Idalia football will start when the two-time defending state champion takes the field Sept. 1. Brad Wingfield, who was an assistant coach for eight years at Idalia, will take over the coaching duties from Tim Gribben, who retired after his Wolves won the state title last year. Gribben, the 2006 All-Colorado coach of the year who has been battling Lou Gehrig's disease, leaves with an impressive 63-3 record and four state championships in six years.

Wingfield knew the day would come when Gribben would leave and believes he is well-prepared.

"Tim did the smart thing in my mind and gave the assistants more duties over the last few years, preparing us for what we all knew was going to happen someday," Wingfield said.

As for the team, Idalia lost six players to graduation, including Scott Cure and the classification's player of the year in Lucas Devlin. Replacing those players will be no small task.

"It's always tough to replace a senior class; I don't know how you replace them. They were really talented," Wingfield said. "But I feel that you never really replace anyone, but morph your team with the players that you have and move on."

• Idalia will start the season on the road, not in Colorado, but in the Lone Star state.

The fourth-ranked Wolves will take on Rule High School, the Texas Division I 6-Man state runner-up last year. Rule enters the season ranked No. 2 in Texas by SixManFootball.com.

"They called us about coming down there," Wingfield said. "This has been done before. I think Revere was the last team to go there, and that was 12 or 13 years ago."

The game will be played at McMurry University in Abilene, and Wingfield said a crowd of 6,000 to 8,000 is expected.

And while many thought Gribben experienced his last game on the bench, Wingfield said he wants to extend it to one more.

"Depending on Tim's health, he is invited to go with us to Texas for that game and be on the sidelines with us," Wingfield said. "This is something that he put on for the kids and was the last thing he did before he retired."

• During the weekend of June 13-16, Chadron State University became a 6-Man haven, with eight Colorado teams making the trip to Nebraska.

Peetz, Deer Trail, Otis, Woodlin, Arickaree, Fleming, Pawnee and Lone Star improved their football skills by learning from the best team in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

"We looked good at camp," Lone Star coach Mike Harty said. "We played straight up with the likes of Arickaree and Woodlin, both teams we'll see this season."

• Down by three points or fewer with a few seconds remaining in the game, not many coaches in 6-Man would try for a winning field goal, which is worth four points.

Deer Trail coach Dave Cochran would take the chance, though, with kicker James Humbert.

"We have to have people on the roof (at the school) because he'll kick it up there," Cochran said. "He can make it from 45 yards with ease, and I've seen him kick it from 60 yards into the wind."

• One of the more improved teams last season was Fleming, which progressed from a 2-7 record in 2005 to 5-4.

With nearly the entire team returning for coach John King, the Wildcats should make a strong push for a playoff berth.

"Talentwise, we can compete with anyone," King said. "We have a good senior class returning and we have everyone back (on both sides of the ball) but our safety."

• In the past two years, the playoff format has changed, from wild- card points in 2005 to the top two division teams last year.

Pawnee coach Doug Miller understandably likes the wild-card format .

His team went in as the seventh seed in 2005 and went all the way to the state title game.

"I prefer the wild-card system because it seemed to have got the more competitive teams into the playoffs." Miller said .

Kit Carson coach Jim Trahern has seen his fair share of playoff formats in his 23 years with the Wildcats. He doesn't like either of the above-mentioned formats and has his own idea.

"Personally, I think that the ideal playoff setup would be two teams from each conference qualifying ," Trahern said.

"Then instead of the (current) preset bracket, we would put together a seeding committee and meet on the Sunday before the playoffs, just like what happens in volleyball and basketball. We would set the bracket so we ideally get the best two teams on the opposite sides."

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