By Rich Winter

605 Sports

WINNEBAGO, Neb. — It’s no secret what the Winnebago Indians offense is going to do every time they hit the field.

Running behind offensive guard Jared Doxey II (6-feet-2, 240 pounds) and center Ashton LaPointe (6-feet, 280 pounds) and tight end Thomas Walker (6-feet-6, 220 pounds) the Indians are content to run the ball. 

“Our game plan is to run between the tackles,” Dusty Welsh, a long-time assistant and first-year head coach, said. “Hopefully that works and if we need to we can go to a little counter action. We’ve had three games this year where we’ve had zero or negative yards passing.”

Winnebago improved to 6-0 on the season with Friday’s 40-0 road win over Little Wound. Doxey II, a road-grader at offensive line that Welsh said has quick feet and can move, says the offensive line works hard to see the results on game day. 

“I think we all have a pretty good work ethic,” Doxey II said. “We trust in what we do at practice and our coaches have really good blocking schemes.” 

The Indians beat Pine Ridge 40-34 on Sept. 5 and turned some heads when they knocked off two-time defending All-Nations Class 9A champion Todd County, 36-20, on Sept. 26. 

“We watched a lot of film on them and knew how aggressive they were,” Doxey II said. “We put in work over the summer in early June with team camp. We put in a lot of work and we feel like we deserved that win.” 

Winnebago had fallen to Todd County in each of the last two All-Nations Class 9A championship games. 

In each of the last two years Winnebago graduated a number of extremely talented all-conference type players. Despite being young on all areas of the field, Welsh said he’s not surprised to see the team off to the undefeated start. 

“We aren’t surprised at all because we knew we had all of our linemen coming back,” he said. “I thought the guys had an extremely good summer and we have a few kids that are coming off injuries that didn’t play a lot last year but are contributing in big ways for us.”

One of those guys coming back is sophomore Angelo Jones, who was injured in the first junior varsity game last season. Entering the Little Wound game, Jones had rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns. 

Jones’ biggest presence has been felt on defense where he is second on the team in tackles (28) while having two interceptions from his middle linebacker position. 

“I keep telling him that he can be the best player in the league if he wants to,” Welsh said. 

Welsh said the most unselfish player on the team this season is sophomore Raiden DeCora. The 5-feet-8, 175 pound sophomore was a starting running back a year ago and was moved to the fullback position in what Welsh called the best move for the team. DeCora has 16 carries for 135 yards for three touchdowns. 

The biggest surprise this season has been the emergence of 6-feet-1, 165-pound junior Adarius Flemister. Against Pine Ridge with the game tied at 34-34, Flemister broke off a 75-yard kick return for a touchdown. 

He’s been the Indians' lead back this season and entering the game against Little Wound he had 42 carries for 628 yards (14.95 yards per carry) and eight touchdowns. 

“Talent has never been an issue with him,” Welsh said. “He’s completely bought into the program and you could see that with his summer conditioning and at the team camp.” 

Flemister and Doxey II spent a lot of time together this summer with Flemister picking up his offensive lineman to go work out. 

Flemister’s favorite play is 24 Power, “I like the blocking scheme up front and can run behind Jared or Ashton and hit the gap,” he said. “I put the time in the weightroom this summer and feel like that has completely elevated my athleticism and strength.”

The Indians have two games remaining in the 2024 regular season. Next week, they host St. Francis Indian and their regular season finale is against Omaha Nation in Macy, Neb.