By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Hot on the heels of an 8-3 campaign that saw the Mustangs win the AVCTL-II and secure a berth in the Class 5A quarterfinals, Salina Central will be eager to get back under the Friday night lights, with a wealth of returners leading the way.
“Our strength lies in who we have back this year,” Mustang head coach Mark Sandbo said. “We didn’t graduate a lot of seniors but the ones we did were really impactful to the success that we had. With that said we return eight starters on defense and seven on offense and we’ll have some guys we feel we can count on coming up through our system to fill those holes.”
The biggest hole on the offensive side will come in the form of Kenyon McMillan, who finished his electric 2022 campaign with over 1,500 rushing yards and 18 scores on the ground, all while losing just one fumble.
Stepping up to fill those shoes is senior tailback Elijah Wilson, who has the full vote of confidence from the Central coaching staff ahead of the 2023 season.
“We feel good about Elijah moving through the ranks and it being his time to take the reigns,” Sandbo said.
Wilson will join the biggest returner on the Mustang offense in the backfield, lining up alongside all-state dual-threat quarterback Gunnar Gross, who put up video game numbers in 2022, racking up over 3,300 yards of total offense and 36 touchdowns between the air and the ground.
“Any time you can return a starting quarterback you feel good about a lot of situations but when you return one who’s as good as [Gunnar] and as good of a leader as he is you feel really good about what you can do offensively,” he said.
Gross will have several of his favorite weapons back in his arsenal for 2023, as Central returns a pair of all-league wideouts in Hunter Mowery and Dez Gibson alongside new stars like Ryker Grossner and Sam Payne.
In the trenches, the Mustangs return three big veterans in Gage Gibson, Kaden Snyder, and Anthony Ortigoza on offense, with James MacKinney and Zach Calisti anchoring the D-line.
That duo up front is just the tip of the iceberg for returning defensive talent, as Central also gets Tyrus Young, Donovan Johnson, and Jesus Delgado back at linebacker, and Levi Losey, Jameer Moore, and Dez Gibson back in the secondary.
With so much talent back from the 2022 campaign, the Mustangs will look to take the next step, and a big key to doing just that will lie in their ability to better slow and stop opponents on the ground, to keep an elite offensive unit on the field.
“We’ll be interested to see what we have in our physicality on that defensive line,” Sandbo said. “We struggled to stop the run at times last year, and we graduated a couple of pieces on that line but I think our interior group could be a real strength this year.”
With expectations at an all-time high in the Salina community, this year’s Mustangs are eager to rise to meet that challenge, and will have an opportunity to tick a few big boxes off when they open their season against cross-town rival Salina South.
“Our guys have some big goals and aspirations and that’s what we want,” he said. “Our kids feel like they can step on the field and compete with anybody and there are no guarantees, you’ve gotta keep everybody healthy for 11-13 games but I’ve been really impressed with the approach and the buy-in from everyone from our seniors on down.”
The 2023 campaign officially kicks off on Friday, September 1st at Salina Stadium, with the Mayor’s Cup matchup set to begin at 7:00.