Exeter Eagles history
The Maroon & White had two Golden Eras.
The Exeter Eagles first Golden Era came during the state’s transition to eight-man football in the 1950s. The Maroon & White and their Trailway Conference brethren (Beaver Crossing, Dorchester, Henderson, Fairmont, and Friend) moved to the new configuration in the fall 1955, as the state’s second 8-man league. Exeter had immediate success, posted three straight undefeated seasons, and claimed three state titles.
The 1955 team, led by two-time all-state end Vernon Thomsen (1957), went 8-0 and claimed the #1 spot in both newspapers’ final ratings. The Eagles wrapped that season with a 40-12 win over Brady in the American Legion Classic at Arapahoe. In 1956, Exeter went 10-0 and finished the year with 52-12 shellacking of Mead. All-state back Jerry Bristol (1958) led the way with four touchdowns behind Thomsen and guard Tom Harre (1958). Both Harre and Bristol would earn two all-state awards before graduating.
The 1956 team was the Lincoln papers’ state championship pick, but Gregg McBride’s World-Herald prize went to Big Springs. In 1957, the Eagles were back on top of both ratings. End Larry Starr (1958) joined Bristol and Harre on the all-star rolls as Exeter again posted eight wins against zero loses. The Maroon crushed Norfolk Sacred Heart 41-7 early in the season and knocked off undefeated Ceresco later as their win streak grew to 27 games. Coach Rick Gibson took the reigns that year from Ken Kasperek who led the way to the first two titles.
Those mid-1950s teams were the first Eagles to hang state championship banners, but they were not the first unbeaten gridiron squads in Exeter. The 1925 Eagles, playing eleven-man football, shut out Friend on Thanksgiving morning (kickoff in Friend was 9:30 am) to finish 8-0 a decade before McBride invented statewide ratings. Exeter also had a 28-0 blanking of Geneva on its 1925 resume, but the Maroon’s biggest win came mid-season over Seward Lutheran Academy (later Seward Concordia High). Eagle star Verne Moor (1926) converted a dropkick that secured that win.
The 1955 Exeter Eagles claimed the first of three straight state titles in the early days of eight-man football in Nebraska.
