Eudora High football player Dustin Foulk made one heck of a first impression on the Cardinals coaching staff with how he has performed on the playing field.

Just a year ago, Foulk, now a senior, was playing football at Cunningham High. But Cunningham – a small school located between Pratt and Wichita in south-central Kansas – doesn’t play the same brand of football Foulk has become accustomed to in Eudora.

The Wildcats play eight-man football.

“The first day he was with us at seven-on-seven over at De Soto, he was a natural,” Cardinals coach Gregg Webb said. “For players, it’s not that big a deal, I think, but they make it a big deal. … But he’s never complained about it being so weird and so different. He’s done a nice job just taking it all in stride, and we give him a position and a job, and he’s done really well – thank God he’s shown up.”

The reason Webb was so grateful for Foulk’s appearance was that he was unsure of his secondary after losing all his starters to graduation.

“If you replace kids, you’d like to replace them with older kids or very athletic younger kids and we don’t have that yet … and he’s very physical,” Webb said. “We thought he’d be a decent enough athlete to make some people pay if they were going to catch the ball and he’s done that occasionally.”

Dustin Foulk, a senior defensive back and one of the keys to Eudora High's undefeated season, was playing eight-man football just one year ago.

Foulk’s physical nature has its roots back at Cunningham, where he played closer to the line as a linebacker. He also spent a little time at the nose-guard position.

“I wasn’t really fond of it, but I ended up making all-league at nose-guard,” Foulk said. “So I guess they just stuck me where they needed me. I knew nothing in the secondary. You have some pass coverage as a linebacker, but it’s all short stuff and it’s just all new to me.”

But Foulk has been a quick study of the new coaching style and the position change, as well as having three extra teammates on the field with him.

“I’m surprised he’s actually handling it pretty well,” teammate Kyle Scrimsher said. “I think he’s doing a lot better than most guys that have been playing 11-man football all their lives. He doesn’t seem to get confused too much and he just seems to go out there and play.”

Foulk said the only real difficulty he’s had in the transition has been the different field size.

“The field’s a lot bigger, so I’m all over the place and I have my assignments and stuff,” Foulk said. “So I’m just a lot more tired after all the running here in 11-man than I am in eight-man because I’m not just sitting still.”

Besides bringing maturity and a physical presence to the secondary, Foulk has also helped develop a competitive nature among the defensive backs.

“He’s pretty much the same speed as me, but he’s a lot taller, so it helps him get used to intercepting passes over tall kids and covering them,” said Scrimsher, who plays the safety position opposite Foulk. “He’s just a hard worker and pushes me all the time, so I have to push back.”

In Eudora’s first-round game Class 4A playoff against Kansas City Piper, Foulk came up with two huge interceptions to propel the squad to a 47-13 victory.

“I like to think that we have one of the better defenses in the state and just whenever we go into a game it’s our defense that sets the tone for the rest of the game,” Foulk said. “If our defense is playing well then it makes it easier for our offense to go out there and keep the ball rolling and just put points on the board.”

That defense has given up an average of just less than two touchdowns per game – much to the surprise of Webb – and has led the Cardinals into the quarterfinals of the playoffs.

“They’ve done a tremendous job. They’ve exceeded our expectations, which our expectations are high for every position,” Webb said of the secondary. “They have done very well for us – for the most part. They’ve had some immature breakdowns and just silly things. … But you don’t have to put a great athlete back there if he knows what he’s doing.”

Foulk said he most definitely enjoys the new brand of football at Eudora. A large part of that is due to the deep postseason run – which will continue Friday at Girard.

“The fact that we win helps a lot. We didn’t always win a lot of games in Cunningham,” Foulk said. “And so the team spirit’s a lot higher and we do a lot more team-involved things. Just the whole idea and the spirit of what we’re going out to do is a lot better.”