Brooks Barta is in his 20^th season as head coach of the Holton Wildcats, and came into this season needing only 7 wins to eclipse the 200 win mark. That 7^th win came Friday night for Holton as they beat Osawatomie 35-12 to advance to the Sectional round of the class 4A Division II playoffs. Barta started his tenure at Holton in 1996, taking over for a program who had struggled in recent memory and only had one post season appearnce in school history. Brooks came from a small town where his dad, Roger, ran a program in Smith Center and taught his players the importance of family and caring for one another on the field, Brooks brought that with him to Holton 20 years ago.

A graduate from Kansas State University, Brooks was also taught that the little things matter. He was a part of the turn-around at Kansas State, playing linebacker under Bill Snyder from 1989-1992, being named to the First Team All-Big 8 in 1991. In an article written by Bob Lutz in December of 2011, Barta speaks highly of Coach Snyder and stated that “I walked away from KSU knowing that improvement is planned and not often easy. Improvement must happen every day” That improvement has been evident in 2015 thus far for Holton.

For the first time in over 12 years Holton started the year 2-3, unable to get over the hump against teams like Silver Lake, Maize South (Wichita) and Nemaha Central. With patience and healthier athletes and continued hard work, Holton now has won 5 straight games by outscoring their opponents 181-37 in that stretch. Taking home some hardware in the process by winning their district title and more recently becoming regional champions.

On Friday night Holton was led in rushing by Mason Barta for the second straight week, rushing 16 times for a team high 99 yards and 1 touchdown. The Wildcats built a 35-0 lead in the fourth quarter before Osawatomie scored twice late in the game.  Will Wright had a pair of touchdown runs for the balanced Wildcat wishbone attack and Justin Pool also scored on the ground while Justin Rieschick found felow senior, Austin Frakes on a 33-yard passing TD. 

Holton’s defense held one of the best running backs in the state Riley England to just 76 yards on the ground. Coming in to the game, England averaged 262 yards and 3 touchdowns per game. Holton outgained Osawatomie 373 yards to 264, and will move on to play the 7-3 Frontenac Raiders next Friday, November 13^th in Frontenac. Game time will be at 7:00 with live coverage starting at 6:30 on the Holton Channel www.citylinktv.com/channel/holton