RIO VISTA EAGLES
Raising the bar
The Rio Vista Eagles come off a learning year under first-year head coach Matthew Woodard. Implementing a new system to the program, he adjusted accordingly.“ I had to change myself to fit the needs of the kids,” said Woodard.“ This year, we’ re going to switch what we do to help fit the needs of our kids.”
With a 5-6 record and a bi-district round appearance, the Eagles expected much more of themselves despite the learning curve. Specifically, quarterback Kaiden Scott aimed for a trip to at least a regional semifinal.
Part of the reason why the team felt underwhelmed by 2024 was the close losses to District 7-2A opponents in the final seconds. If Rio Vista could’ ve come away with the victories over Italy, Axtell and Valley Mills, Woodard believes it would’ ve projected the team to a strong playoff push.
In 2025, the Eagles feature many returners who are still very young, with a large sophomore and junior class. Yet, the bar has been raised by Woodard now with a full year under his belt at the helm.
Offense Typically, Woodard runs his offense at a fast pace, but he couldn’ t fully enforce it last season. Although not meeting his level of tempo, Rio Vista’ s passing game was one of the most efficient in Johnson County.
With a sophomore under center, the Eagles soared into the record books. Scott completed 179 passes for 2,715 yards and 28 touchdowns, the most in program history.
Scott praised his head coach for all the hard work he does in helping the young passer’ s game.
“ Coach Woodard is the most knowledgeable coach I’ ve ever been around,” said Scott.“ He’ s extremely smart. He puts in more hours than anybody on this campus. That earns your respect.”
Coming off a promising sophomore year, Scott expects more explosiveness in the passing game with the depth at receiver.
“ When you got eight guys that can play at a high level, that’ s pretty good,” said Scott.
Another reason behind the quarterback’ s confidence is the emphasis on the running game that will meet the same expectations as the air attack.
“ We had areas of weakness whenever we ran the ball,” said Woodard.“ We focused a lot this offseason on being able to establish the run.”
When speaking on the running game, Woodard mentioned the starting offensive line, which is all underclassmen who played last year.
“ There is going to be times they go through adversity, but right now, they’ re on a high,” Woodard said about his improved unit.
Junior Braxton Coffin represents a line that feels confident going into week one and has embraced the pressure put upon them.
“ We want to go do a job. We love run blocking,” said Coffin.“ We have a lot of size, speed and we’ re gonna be a physical group up front.”
Coffin went on to state that it’ s his time
28 johnson county gridiron 2025