When a new football head coach meets his players, the first step to success is the players believing in the message the coach projects.
Craig Collins replaced Adam Sims as head coach at Crystal City High School this year. Sims was the Hornets head coach for one season. Sims took over for Dan Fox, who is now the activities director at Herculaneum High. Fox was tasked with rescuing a moribund team that between 2017 and 2019 posted a record of 1-29 and did so by leading Crystal City to back-to-back, eight-win seasons in 2022 and 2023.
Collins is also the school’s head coach of the track and field teams and strength and conditioning coordinator. He’s coached football for 16 years and previously was the head football and track and field coach at Osceola High, southeast of Kansas City. Collins previously coached football in his home state of Oklahoma.
“The thing I see the most is the dedication and buy in,” Collins said as the Hornets practiced at JJ Commerford Stadium last week. “They’ve showed up since day one and I laid out my expectations. They’re high standards. They’re not going to be brought down, and they’ve bought into that and have been busting their tails in the weight room and in speed training. We’ve hit the ground running.”
That’s what senior Landyn Derousse has done in his effort to replace Nolan Eisenbeis as Crystal City’s starting quarterback. A 2025 graduate, Eisenbeis, whose father, Steve, is the school’s activities director, passed for 1,031 yards and 16 touchdowns and rushed for 295 yards and six TDs. Eisenbeis is attending Jefferson College and is on the baseball team there.
As a running back last year, Derousse combined for more than 800 yards of rushing and receiving and scored six TDs. Freshman Kolton Adams has impressed his coaches as the backup. Collins is speeding things up by going to a no-huddle offense.
“Landyn has come into his own at the position and is a fantastic leader on and off the field,” Collins said.
Two years ago, the Hornets were 63 yards shy of having two 1,000-yard rushers with Kanden Bolton and Caden Raftery in the backfield. Last season suited Eisenbeis and the passing game more, but it’s not out of the question to consider Derousse and senior running back Ricardo Pastrana both reaching 1,000 yards. Pastrana led Crystal with 886 yards and six TDs. Seniors Riley Hendrickson and Alex Kuchera saw time at RB last year. Kuchera also does the kicking.
“They have been two beasts,” Collins said, “Riley is a thick, heavy bruiser, and Ricardo has that speed and explosion where he can hit a little jab step on you and go to the house.”
There was no doubting the chemistry Eisenbeis had with wide receiver Evan Wolfe, a 2025 graduate who caught a team-high 21 passes for 608 yards, a whopping 29 yards per catch.
Derousse’s targets this year are junior Conner Miller, sophomore Skyler Fowler and senior Laron Mcginnist.
“They have hands and more importantly for me they know how to block,” Collins said.
Nolan’s gone, but there always seems to be an Eisenbeis on the Crystal roster and his brother, Trent, is already a leader as a junior. Eisenbeis is the rock of the offensive line at center.
“We’re all learning a lot with a new coach. We’re all trusting Coach (Collins). We don’t know a lot about him but we’re putting it all in his hands and he’s doing very well with it.”
Trent is also one of the Hornets top defenders, playing both ways on the line.
“It’s pretty exhausting, but on defense you just fly around so your mind’s not thinking at all,” he said. “On offense, you have to lock in. It’s fun going both ways.”
Trent doesn’t take his heritage for granted.
“Even though I have the name, you have to play as hard as you can.”
Collins said senior David Parham is primed to have a breakout season at guard.
“His name went under the radar last year, so I look for him to shock some people. Trent’s ready to come out of the shadow left by his fantastic brothers.”
Junior tackle Gage McPherson recently lifted 500 pounds in the squat, and he’s a two-way starter on the line. Freshmen Tristyn Munton and Nick Patton and junior Elias Miller are in the mix to start on the OL. Senior Hayden Westbrook is a two-year starter on the OL but he’s finishing basic training in the Army.
Derousse is perfect to play free safety in the style of defense Collins will deploy.
“Your free safety has to be one of your best guys and he’s shown that. He calls out coverages,” Collins said.
Hendrickson is in the middle at linebacker, and Miller and Parham are on the DL.
“I like to send the heat and pressure and confuse the offensive line and get after the quarterback and still be safe on the back side,” Collins said.
According to enrollment records kept by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, Sikeston had 624 more students than Crystal City in 2024-2025. That didn’t keep the Hornets from traveling to the Bootheel and playing the Bulldogs, a Class 4 school that was in the district with De Soto, Festus, Hillsboro and Windsor.
Size didn’t seem to matter as Crystal jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter of last year’s season opener before Sikeston came back to win 29-18. The Bulldogs visit the Hornets on Aug. 29 to kick off the 2025 season.
“Their record (3-7) wasn’t the best last year but with their coach (Jim May) in year two, we’re going to have a challenge ahead,” Collins said.
“We’re going to have to stop the run and they’ve got weapons on the outside in the pass game. On the defensive side, they’re going to hit you.
“We have small goals we want to turn into big goals. Our first goal is to win every home game. We’re trying to be road warriors as well. We want to take care of business on Mondays when we install the game plan and self-scout. These guys have championship in their eyes.”