By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Last fall, the WaKeeney-Trego prep football team finished 4-6 and qualified for the postseason, then lost 62-0 to Smith Center. Afterward, Golden Eagle coach Myron Flax, who led the program to a 53-62 mark in 12 seasons, and two assistants stepped down.

"I was curious who we would get," for the job, senior running back Derek Carr said.

Trego was one of nine area schools that had to hire a new football coach. While some places, notably Hays High School and La Crosse, filled jobs in several weeks, the Golden Eagles needed several months before they hired John Petrie, who coached Plainville from 2006-08. Petrie has coached at multiple area schools, including Hoxie, La Crosse and Otis-Bison.

"I didn't know much about him, but I knew that he had coached for a while, so I knew that he would be hired," Carr said.

Petrie, who was 0-9 with the Cardinals last fall, has not won a game in his first season with the Golden Eagles. Trego (0-8) lost first team all-Mid-Continent League quarterback-defensive back Spencer Hemmert to graduation, and running back-linebacker Casey Sedbrook transferred to Hays High School.

The Golden Eagles have been outscored 352-54.

"We lost a lot of key players, so we had a lot of younger guys step up and even a lot of freshmen fill starting roles now," Carr said. "We missed those guys an awful lot. We just try to do the best we can. ... It's not been the year that I was hoping for, but football has always been fun for me."

Trego, whose closest loss is a 13-12 defeat to Hoxie in Week 1, has a chance to end the winless skid -- and Petrie's personal 18-game losing streak that dates back to 2007 -- when the Golden Eagles travel to Plainville for a district contest Thursday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

"It will be the same since we know Coach Petrie," Plainville sophomore Andrew Casey said. "But it will also be a little bit different as well."

The game is a rarity; the winner will qualify for the postseason with one victory. In the last three seasons, just one team, Lyndon in the 2008 2-1A bracket, reached the postseason with one victory. The winner of Thursday's contest will travel to five-time undefeated 2-1A champions Smith Center.

"I don't want my senior year to end right now," Carr said. "I know not many people would look forward to playing Smith Center after you win to get into the playoffs. We did the same thing last year. That doesn't change my perspective on the game. I still want to go out and win Thursday."

Senior quarterback Bobby Garrett, who moved to WaKeeney from Oklahoma, is 31-of-80 passing for 319 yards with one touchdown against 12 interceptions. Carr is the team's leading rusher with 84 carries for 197 yards, while junior Will Papes has 155 yards and senior Brandon Eberle has chipped in with 145 yards. Defensively, junior Monte Schmitt has collected 99 tackles.

"Monte is a heck of a tackler," Carr said. "Wherever the ball is at, Monte is at."

Trego has not scored more than 12 points in any contest. The Golden eagles defeated Plainville 50-0 last year to qualify for the postseason, a mark they'll look to reach again.

"The best thing would be to get a win on Thursday," Carr said.