Gridiron standouts tapped for all-star game

BELOIT — Three of the area’s most decorated high school athletes will get another shot at some football action this weekend.
Crest High’s Kyle Hammond and Marmaton Valley High’s Cole Becker and Daylen Houk will be at the Kansas Eight-Man All-Star football games Saturday, while Marmaton Valley’s head coach, Kent Houk, will serve as an assistant coach.
Hammond will play in the Eight Man Division II game, which kicks off at 10 a.m. at Trojan Field. The Division I game, which features the Marmaton Valley participants, will kick off at 1 p.m.
Hammond was a central figure for the Lancers all four years he played. He rushed for 5,775 yards and 102 touchdowns; passed for 2,624 yards and 39 more scores; caught 25 passes for 390 yards and seven touchdowns; and returned six kickoffs for touchdowns in his career. On defense, he had 358 tackles and six interceptions.
He earned all-Three Rivers League honors all four years, either on offense, defense and special teams, and earned all-state honors as a sophomore, junior and senior. His teams qualified for postseason play after his sophomore and senior seasons. He was K-Preps Magazine’s 8-Man Division II offensive player of the year in 2012.
Hammond also was a decorated basketball player. As in football, he earned all-league honors all four years of high school, and all-state honors his final three years.
Hammond is a Kansas Honor Scholar, maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average through school.
His parents are Chad and Brenna Hammond. He will attend Fort Scott Community College in the fall.
Hammond also was selected to play in the Kansas Shrine Bowl, an all-star game featuring high school students from across the state. The Shrine Bowl is July 27 in Topeka.

BECKER REWROTE many of the Marmaton Valley rushing records in his four years with the Wildcats.
Becker, son of Steve and Kim Becker, rushed for 5,009 yards and 70 touchdowns. On defense, he racked up 290 tackles.
Following an injury that curtailed his freshman campaign, Becker rushed for more than 1,000 yards his sophomore season, 1,600 yards as a junior and a whopping 2,236 yards as a senior.
He earned all-league and all-state honors as a junior and senior, and was named K-Preps’ 8-Man Division I offensive player of the year in 2012.
Becker also starred on the basketball court, earning all-league honors his last three years, and on the baseball diamond, earning Three Rivers League honors as a sophomore and junior.
Becker plans to study at Allen Community College.

HOUK WAS A victim of his team’s success when it came to individual statistics, particularly last season.
While Marmaton Valley racked up more than 54 points a game, the Wildcats played a full four quarters in only three games during the season — the others were ended early due to Kansas’ eight-man mercy rules.
And Houk usually was called on to block for Marmaton Valley’s other talented backfield performers.
Still, he rushed for 840 yards, averaging more than eight yards a carry. On defense, he had 78 tackles, two interceptions and two sacks.
He was a three-year, all-league performer and all-state defensive back his senior year.
Houk also starred on the baseball field, earning all-league honors twice, and a state qualifier in four track events last week, finishing fifth in the Class 1A 200-meter dash.
He was an honor student all four years of high school.
Houk is the son of Kent and Kristie Houk. He plans to attend Allen in the fall.

IN HIS third year at the helm of the Wildcat squad, Kent Houk guided his alma mater to an undefeated regular season.
The Wildcats advanced to the Bi-District championship game before falling to Rock Hills out of Udall to finish with a 10-1 mark.
A standout athlete in his own right, Coach Houk graduated from Marmaton Valley in 1990.
Houk has been coaching at Marmaton Valley in other capacities for eight years. He also coached the girls basketball team and high school and junior high track.
Houk and his wife, Kristie, have five sons and a daughter.