Overland High School football head coach seeks playoff bid as season nears

The first game of the 2023 Colorado High School Football season gets underway on Aug. 24 with the first official practice beginning on Aug. 7.

Many teams held offseason training to get ready for the upcoming season, including the Overland Trailblazers, who are looking to get to the playoffs for the first time since 2019. That year, current Overland head coach Kyle Reese wasn't with the team, but he was the wide receivers coach at Cherry Creek High School, helping the Bruins to a state championship.

After the season, he decided to take on the challenge of becoming Overland's head coach in 2020. Overland was a football program without much stability as they were hiring their third head coach in three seasons and Reese knew he had a long road to rebuild the program.

In his first season, the Trailblazers went 1-6, but they bounced back to have back-to-back 5-5 seasons in the last two years, just missing out on the playoffs. Reese is confident his team will finally punch their ticket to the postseason as he uses coaching to scratch his competitive itch.

"A lot of coaches say everything is for the kids. No, we're still getting something out of it. We still get to compete. And that doesn't go away just because you get older, and your body becomes less able," Kyle Reese admits.

Aside from coaching, Reese also mentors young men and women as he serves as one of the program managers at Athletics & Beyond, which serves as an athletic training facility and an educational hub for the youth. This aligns with the life mission of Reese who not only wants to lead his football team to victories on the field but to also help them become leaders in their community.

"When they come back and say thank you that is the fulfillment of it all. So, I'm glad to do it. I've worked jobs where I felt very empty when I went home, and it was really transactional. This is relational and so, I really believe that this is my life's work," Reese said.

Overland opens the season against Grandview High School on Aug. 24.