By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

NATOMA -- A sea of red flooded onto the Natoma High School football field Friday afternoon as high school students ran, hopped and flopped around the field during a game of Ships and Sailors.

While that part of the pep rally might have worn out the football players who were gearing up for a tough game against Tescott, it revved up an already excited student body about the game.

"I've been ready since Monday," said senior quarterback Jared Lyle.

And the excitement didn't stop at the high school doors.

The Hitchin' Post, a local bar and grill, posted "Go Tigers" along with its lunch specials Friday. Employees at United National Bank dressed the part in their red Natoma attire.

Meanwhile, students at the elementary school formed red, single-file lines in the hallways as they made their way to their classrooms.

"We have a lot of people that just breathe red and white, from little on up," Superintendent Aaron Homburg said. "I would guess if you walked in a classroom down there, they could tell you who we were playing."

The enthusiasm for everything school-related is nothing new to the community of just more than 300 people. However, the school, rich with basketball tradition with its hall of fame coach John Locke, only recently has become as enthusiastic about football.

"The thing that I think kind of changed where we were at to where we are now is that we have more boys in our high school," head football coach Ben Labertew said.

He took over the team six years ago with about a dozen players on the roster that played a junior varsity schedule.

Since then, the number of players in a season has reached nearly 30 while the team has had four consecutive winning seasons and its first playoff appearance in 20 years.

"I've been really fortunate to have a bunch of really good kids come through here over the last five years," Labertew said. "In a small school, everything goes in cycles. ... We've been, in terms of boys' athletics, on an upswing, and that's good for the community."

The community support for the football team travels well.

"When we went out to Sharon (Springs) last year, we probably had the biggest following Sharon Springs had ever seen," Lyle said.

Again this year, the Natoma fans have far outnumbered their opponents' fans on the road in Wilson and Sylvan Grove.

"As with any community, you're behind your youth because they're your future," said Patty Eickhoff, whose son, Cameron, plays football. "It gives us something to look forward to at the end of the week."

The past

Fifteen years ago, Natoma faced an opponent it couldn't overcome.

Floodwaters from Paradise Creek rushed over the town in July 1993 and today, lines about 3 feet high still appear on a few pieces of furniture and the older buildings around town.

Christy Pruter, who owns Christy's, a hair salon, said the flood brought everyone closer in the town's efforts to recover.

"Nobody ever thought, 'We've got to move,' " Pruter said. "The government came in and gave grants, and I'd say within a year people were pretty much back to normal."

However, the town wasn't quite the same, according to Mabel Pruter, a resident for all of her 87 years.

"Ever since the flood, it was really hard on the businesses in Natoma, and some homes, too," she said. The buildings where a beauty shop, variety shop, cafe and grocery store used to be were damaged, but the businesses were able to come back, though none of them are open today.

However, Christy Pruter said she didn't remember losing very many students in the school system due to the flood.

Commuters

More recently, the town lost its grocery store and everyday medical services.

The grocery store closed about five years ago, but Masters Oil Co., the only gas station remaining in the town, has picked up some of the slack.

"We moved some of the hardware to the back and put in some freezers," said Fonna Schwien, an employee at Masters Oil. "It's emergency stuff, especially since the price of gas is up."

Everyday medical services were discontinued about a year ago; however, staff from the Rooks County Health Center conducted school physicals in August, and flu shots are scheduled for later this month.

But Eickhoff still has to drive her son, Cameron, to Hays to see a chiropractor for his recent rib injury from playing football.

"We just look at it as if you go out of town, you bring home a gallon of milk," Eickhoff said.

The closest grocery stores and medical services are in Plainville, Russell, Hays and Osborne, depending where you live in the district, which encompasses students from four counties.

Local blacksmith Larry Naylor said not having those two services affect the senior population the most.

"It hurts ... especially since we've got a lot of senior citizens in this town that really have no way of getting around," Naylor said. "A lot of times, you'll see four or five of them will get together and go to Hays to Wal-Mart to get their shopping done and make a day of it."

Even the teachers working in the district are commuting, according to Linda Zeigler, senior vice president of United National Bank.

"The way the jobs are, there's probably not jobs here for their spouses," Zeigler said. "We're just such a mobile society anymore that it's not a big deal to drive for your job.

"The ideal thing would be for everyone to live here in the community, but that's not feasible."

Zeigler and Schwien agreed there are few empty houses in the community, especially large enough for families.

Needing students

According to Homburg, the school district is in pretty good shape in terms of the number of students enrolled, although most everyone in town agreed they wouldn't turn away new, young families.

"We're hurting just like any other small school," said Dustin George, the father of two elementary school children. "We just graduated a big class last year, and we just don't have near the numbers to endure that. I think we're just like most small towns, fighting to keep the schools going."

Homburg said 23 students graduated last year, and another 10 moved away.

"This year, we're down some students," Homburg said. "We actually have more students today than we had in the early '90s, but we are down 20 or 30 students from where we were five years ago."

Homburg said the district gained about 10 new students this year to help offset the loss, and it enrolled a class of 13 to preschool, which is as much as they could ask for.

"Each school has learned to work within their means -- the amount of students, the amount of funding that they have," Homburg said.

However, the high school enrollment has seen a boost in the past three years since the school has been affiliated with American Scholastics Associates, an international student exchange program.

In its first year, 16 students from around the world came to Natoma.

"A lot of the folks that bring those kids into their home maybe have kids that have all graduated. But yet where we're kind of the hub of all community events, they come in and like it because they can stay involved with the school," Homburg said.

This year, the school has six exchange students with two returning on F-1 student visas.

"They enjoyed their experience so much, they came back for a second year," Homburg said.

He said the school benefits from being able to learn from the students' cultures just as much as they learn about Americans' culture.

"I felt our job at the school was to educate every kid in the district, so that's what we'll do, whether they're from Thailand, Australia or wherever," Homburg said.

Sustainability

Few parents and community members are concerned about future consolidation of USD 399.

Natoma combined with already consolidated Paradise-Waldo in 1975, but has been able to hold its ground since then.

"If we ever did disband, I think we'd have to go a lot of different directions," said Valerie Casey, whose daughter, Eastin, is a high school cheerleader. "That would be a fear, but I can't see it happening."

Homburg said the school staff and the community are progressive in their thinking, and he didn't see any drastic changes in the school's viability in the near future.

"I'm a firm believer that the minute you start thinking it's the end, it'll be the end," Homburg said.

And that's why the school is thinking ahead. By the end of the month, Homburg hopes to have a 100-foot, 50-kilowatt wind turbine up and running on the east end of the football field.

"The turbines -- they say that they last for 30 years, and we're planning on being here," he said.

The wind generation is expected to cover about half of the electrical costs of the three buildings at the high school.

USD 399 also has started a three-phase program this year called Tiger Family Health.

An endowment is being established at the school to help with sustainability, Homburg said. The district also is looking at putting in a community fitness facility and adding on to the elementary school to provide a community library and offer rooms for outreach education.

"The idea of the project is to sustain rural communities," Homburg said. "We're trying to draw a blueprint that other small communities can follow."

Driving forces

The two driving forces that keep Natoma humming are oil production and agriculture.

"We've got several pumpers (and) pulling units," Zeigler said. "That's pretty much keeping this town going."

The right weather conditions have provided a good year of crops for the area, according to Midland Marketing Branch Manager Dale Beisner.

"Fall harvest looks probably the best it's ever been," Beisner said. "Usually, year in and year out, you can see a bad milo field someplace. And this year, there's no bad ones."

The more crops turned out this fall, Beisner said, the more fuel that will be consumed, which is good for the area's oil producers as well.

Beisner said there's been a few new farmers get started in the area, but for the most part, the ones that already were there have filled in the gaps left behind by retiring farmers.

"We definitely have larger farmers than what we did 20 years ago," he said. "Harvest -- that's when I see it more so than anything. Trucks are bigger. The crop gets out faster."

The future

City Clerk Linda Sharits believes Natoma is in the right part of the country to take advantage of a new economic opportunity.

"Apparently, the word is out that this part of Kansas has the best deer hunting," Sharits said. "It's a big drawing ticket. That's where I feel a lot of our economic growth could be."

Already, the city has assisted a man from Florida to buy a house to be used as a hunting getaway.

She said with Natoma situated near the Saline River valley and the Paradise Creek valley, the area could cash in on tourism, too.

Sharits also is in the process of bringing an art gallery to the community. Her brother, Larry Pfortmiller, is a landscape photographer and does most of his work in and around the Natoma area.

The city also is working to bring a community library to Natoma. Though the high school has planned to find resources to build one, the city also is working on bringing it to their offices in an old service station.

"There's a big service bay next door," Sharits said. "The city has given us permission to use the space as a library. We're just trying to find the funds to remodel it."

Sharits said the city started a successful children's reading program this summer. Area libraries already have donated surplus children's books to the city for use in the program. Natoma also uses the Central Kansas Library System.

Sharits said the project is expected to cost $20,000, and the city is seeking grants to help with some of the expense.

Heritage Seekers, a local historical group, also is working to restore the former Pohlman furniture building to a historical museum.

The building was donated to the group, and exterior restoration already has taken place.

The next step for the building is to seal the interior brick walls, according to Heritage Seekers President Bob Eickhoff. The group is seeking grants for the project, and Eickhoff hopes to have it complete in five years.

The road ahead

Despite suffering its first loss of the season Friday, Natoma will have to bounce back quickly as it starts district play Friday.

With No. 1 Victoria and No. 3 Pawnee Heights looming in the last two weeks of the season, Lyle knows the road doesn't get easier from here.

"It's tough, but we're ready to get the ball back on the road," he said.

Labertew said the team is dealing with some injuries and will have to heal to make a run this month.

"We want to be one of the top two dogs left in the fight," Labertew said.