New era begins at Pierce City with Jim Genzler

Aug. 28—PIERCE CITY, Mo. — Brad Hocker had led the Pierce City High School football program for 15 of the last 19 seasons, taking four years off in between while coaching. The longtime Eagles' head coach and second all-time leading rusher in the state of Missouri is stepping away again.

Hocker will remain coaching track and field at PCHS.

But it's time for a new era to begin as Jim Genzler takes over the reins of the gridiron team.

"Our goal for the first year is to establish our culture and to implement our systems. We want to build the best program we can from youth all the way up to Friday nights that will make our community of Pierce City proud," Genzler said. "Coach Hocker and his staff did a tremendous job of running a successful program for many years that we just want to keep building on what they have built. Our goal is to compete every chance we get the opportunity to and to keep improving as the year moves on to where we are playing our best football by week 10."

Pierce City will be led by returning experience as last year's team returns 10 starters and 14 lettermen. Some of those key returners will be Quortin Parks (WR/DB), Kyler McWilliams (QB/DB), Luke Perry (OL/DL) and running back/linebackers Evan Salazar, Mekhi Kleiboeker and Carson Jesperson. All six of those players are seniors who will be asked to provide some leadership.

"One of our biggest strengths will be the amount of experience we have returning," Genzler said. "We have a lot of players that have Friday night experience.

"Our offense will have multiple sets and concepts that will help put our players in spots to be successful. Our players have done a great job adapting to the new system so far this summer.

"... Like our offense, our experience returning will be a strength (on defense). We will be a very aggressive defensive unit that will pursue the ball and try to put as much pressure as possible on opposing offenses."

Perry led the defense with 52 tackles last season as a defensive lineman and will be called upon to bring some of that same production in 2024. He also recovered two fumbles while Parks pulled in three interceptions.

Offensively, Parks caught 18 passes for 183 yards and four scores. Kleiboeker ran the ball 55 times for 273 yards and caught eight passes for 95 yards.

Kleiboeker talked about the team's ability to bounce back from a tough 2-7 finish last year.

"If we persevere through tough times and strive for excellence during good times, then there is no limit to what we can do this season," he said.

Senior Layton Mack, a first-team all-conference kicker in 2023 will also be a player to watch on the Eagles' team this season.

Cruz ibarra, Landon Stanphill and Caleb Poage could all fill important roles on the team as sophomores this year with coach Genzler citing their athleticism as a value.

Broc Olivier, considered a "great leader" by Genzler, will be a senior this season and had this to say about what he's observed within the team so far:

"We have all improved tremendously this offseason and we just have to keep moving forward to put some wins together as a team."