By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
On the heels of a successful 6-3 season, the Bennington Bulldogs have restocked and will be in search of more of the same with a new-look squad in 2022.
Bryan Shamburg returns for his third season at the Bulldog helm, overseeing a team with the potential to be just as good and even more explosive than last year.
“We have a lot of team speed this season,” Shamburg said. “Last year a lot of our seniors had some good size to them and this year we’re not as big but we have quite a bit more speed than we did.”
One of the most notable changes to this year’s Bennington team will come at quarterback where sophomore standout Kian Wilson will take the reigns as the Bulldog signal caller.
“Kian’s accuracy throwing the football has been great and he thinks quickly on his feet,” he said. “He did some good stuff on JV last year and we’re excited to see what he can do at the varsity level.”
Wilson will be joined in the Bennington backfield by Jaden Raccagno and John Janssen and will return Sean Garrett and Easton Pickering as the two top targets.
The Bulldogs will also return several upperclassmen on their O-Line, but despite their veteran presence, Jonathan Golbek, Logan Rook, and Tanner Hubbard will have to get to grips with the speed of the Friday night lights quickly.
“We have a lot of new people on our offensive and defensive lines so we’re less experienced up front,” Shamburg said. “We have upperclassmen there but last year’s seniors took most of those reps over the last two seasons.”
With new personnel come new opportunities to shift the dynamic of the Bennington offense, and the Bulldogs will be eager to get their new unit on the field come Friday night.
“Our offensive identity is going to look different this year,” he said. “Last year we ran a lot of speed option and we can still do plenty of that this year but we also feel like we can spread teams out and throw the ball.”
On defense, Bennington will look to Logan Rook and Easton Pickering to anchor the trenches while Jace Ohlson and Payge Rodenbeek patrol the secondary.
An all-junior linebacking corps rounds out the unit, led by Jon Golbek, John Janssen, and Cole Young.
“I want to see our defense fly around, play downhill and play sound coverage throughout the season,” Shamburg said. “We need to know who our guy is at all times and we need to play disciplined defense”
With a revamped squad and a new identity to settle into, Bennington will need to make the most of every opportunity to grow throughout the course of the fall.
“My big goal for the guys is to make sure we’re coming together as a team and making each other better every day throughout the season,” he said. “We want to play together as a team and with a mix of young guys and veterans we want to see our older guys get experience to help those younger guys learn their positions.”
The Bulldogs will kick off their 2022 campaign on Friday, September 2nd with a trip to Goessel and a battle with the Bluebirds.
For more coverage of Bennington football all season long stay tuned to the Salina Post.