Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Signing Day Wrap Up
PRAIRIE GROVE — Thomas Soehner knew his days of tossing his little brother around were over about a year ago.
Thomas, a star prep and college running back, had just graduated from Arkansas Tech, and was celebrating that milestone at a party at home when he attempted to pick his little brother up and throw him into the swimming pool.
“He picked me up off the ground, and I had to ask to be put back down,” Thomas said. “That was kind of an emasculating experience. From then on, it was pretty much, he’s just bigger than me.”
Dylan Soehner, a 6- foot- 7, 265-pound senior, enjoyed another coming-of-age day on Wednesday, Feb. 3, when the Prairie Grove tight end/defensive lineman signed a letter of intent to play football at Iowa State, the school’s first Division I football signing.
Prairie Grove football coach Danny Abshier, who led the Tigers to the program’s best season last fall, said Soehner had a number of schools courting him, but Iowa State ultimately won the recruiting battle.
“They showed him how much they cared and he really felt the love and decided that’s where he wanted to be,” Abshier said.
Soehner had several schools recruit him as an offensive lineman, which could ultimately be his position. Iowa State wants him at tight end to start his college career. Over the past two seasons in Prairie Grove’s run-first offense, he had more than 70 catches for more than 1,100 yards.
Soehner took an official visit the Jan. 15 weekend to the Ames, Iowa, campus and came away convinced the Cyclones were a perfect match. He did not take any other official visits.
“It was my first official, and I got there and I just knew from the minute I got there, this place feels right,” he said.
Iowa State, a member of the Big 12 Conference, also has a new coaching staff after Matt Campbell was hired from Toledo. Soehner said he connected with tight ends coach Alex Golesh when he was recruiting Soehner to Illinois.
“Your position coach is who you spend most of your time with,” Soehner said. “He’s recruited me hard since my sophomore year. He believes in me, and I believe in him, too.”
Prairie Grove pair signs
with Coffeyville CC
Sam Dodd and Gavin Heltemes will continue to be teammates at the next level after the Prairie Grove seniors signed baseball letters of intent to play at
Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College next season.
Heltemes was signed as an outfielder/pitcher, while Dodd will be a middle infielder/ pitcher at Coffeyville.
“The coaches were really nice, and I just fell in love with the town and it seemed like a great place to go to school,” Heltemes said.
Dodd, who quarterbacked the Prairie Grove football team to the Class 4A state title game last fall, said Heltemes encouraged him to visit Coffeyville CC, and he made the decision to join his teammate there.
“I was wanting to go to a small college,” Dodd said. “After Gavin went and he liked it, it made me feel better about going there.”