By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
2019 was a difficult year for the Salina South Cougars, who managed just two wins amidst a brutal schedule. The Cougars, who have not posted a winning season since their 10-2 effort in 2014, are hoping to build off of several good things that the team saw last season.
“I was awfully proud of how hard our group fought,” 11-year head coach Sam Sellers said.
While the program has been in decline in recent years, 2020 might just be the season that sees Salina South turn the corner. They return several key starters from 2019, and have a group of seniors hungry to get Salina South back to its winning ways.
“We talk a lot about what your legacy is going to be,” Sellers said. “For this group of seniors, they want to be the group that got us back to where we want to be as a program.”
While seniors appear all over the Cougar depth chart in 2020, they do not appear in the backfield, which will be composed of sophomore quarterback Weston Fries, and junior running back Brandt Cox.
Fries will replace senior Terran Galloway, whose high school career came to a premature end this offseason after struggling with a shoulder injury.
“It sucks,” Sellers said. “Terran gave us everything he had and we could never thank him enough for all that he did for us.”
Fries, who did not attempt a pass in 2019, will have a lot of work to do to prove that he is the man for the job in 2020, but coaches and teammates alike have already praised Fries for what he brings to the position.
“Weston is very talented,” Sellers said. “He has great arm strength, is a very accurate passer and has an excellent football IQ. He has natural playmaker ability and a lot of confidence for a young kid.”
Fries will be getting a lot of help in the backfield from junior running back Brandt Cox, who Sellers thinks could make his case as the best running back in the state in 2020.
Cox, who averaged four yards a carry last season, has earned a reputation for being a violent back that seeks out contact rather than avoiding it.
Both Fries and Cox should get a boost from a revamped offensive line that returns multiple veterans like seniors Gio McCall and Chris Williams and junior standout Shae Lefort, who really impressed in 2019.
“Shae held his own against several D-ends who are playing FBS football this year,” Sellers said. “Now, he is much bigger and stronger and will be one of the best in the state.”
South expects to be much more explosive at the wide receiver position as well, with a new cast of characters running routes. Collin Schreiber, one of the few returners from last season, will be joined by new aerial weapons Jackson Hayes and Zach Davidson.
The defensive side of the ball was an area of struggle for the Cougars in 2019. But with another year of experience and multiple players returning from injury, the 2020 defensive unit should see much improvement and keep South in more games this season.
In the trenches, South will get junior Kayson Dietz back from the injured list. Dietz played just five games in 2019 before he was sidelined with a torn hamstring. He will be joined by senior Nico Arias and newcomer Trey Berland.
The linebackers will be led by seniors Carter Kirby and Jarrett Pittenger, who will get some additional help from sophomore Luke Simpson.
Finally, the secondary will be anchored by four-year starter and first team all-AVCTL cornerback AJ Johnson, who will be joined by his senior counterparts Owen Bulleigh and Que Hill.
For seniors like Johnson, the opportunity to lead this program out of an era that many Salina South fans would like to forget, is a big one that this class feels is within reach.
“We think our future is very bright, and it’s very important to our seniors that that future is now,” Sellers said.
That future begins on Friday night when the Cougars hit the road to face McPherson, a team that has handed South losses on opening night in back-to-back seasons. After that, it will be a trip back to Salina Stadium for a battle with a Maize South team that went undefeated in the regular season last year.