By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
2023 was one to remember for the Ell-Saline football program.
In just their second campaign at the 8-man level, the Cardinals improved from a solid 6-4 to an outstanding 1o-2 with a trip to the 8MDI state semifinals.
While this year’s Ell-Saline team will look much different on offense, the Cardinals have laid the groundwork for a program built to last and are primed to pounce on the 8-man world once again.
“I like where we’re at right now,” Cardinal head coach Joe Roche said. “We seem to have a lot of kids that understand what we want to do on both sides of the ball. They come ready to go every day and they don’t need much motivation.”
The Brookville faithful will need little introduction to an Ell-Saline defense that returns a slew of starters from last year’s squad.
In the trenches, Reese Krone, Melvin Lutes, Victor Ruiz-Torres, and Jake Tillberg all return to give opposing fronts fits, while returners like Lucas Correa and Kas Kramer anchor the secondary.
The only big Cardinal question mark on defense is at linebacker, where Ell-Saline must replace two of the top players at their position in the whole state of Kansas.
“When you lose two guys who played in the 8-man all-star game that’s tough,” Roche said. “They knew everybody’s assignment, and they checked a lot at the line of scrimmage. Hopefully, our guys learned a lot from those two while they were here.”
On the other side of the ball the Cardinals will work with an all-new backfield in 2024, led by quarterback Reese Krone, who transitions from tight end, and will stay on as one of the team’s defensive linemen this year.
“Reese is a thinking man’s quarterback and we have a lot of high-level football conversations,” he said. “He’s 6-5, 220, and he’s been working his tail off preparing in the weight room for this year. He’s every bit as good as Marshall was, and I’m excited.”
Joining Krone in the backfield will be Melvin Lutes and Kas Kramer, whose rushing proficiency should complement a deep, somewhat fresh-faced wide receiver room in the passing game.
“We have a lot of guys stepping up to fill holes left behind and those are all big question marks, but the kids we have slotted in there have a chip on their shoulder,” Roche said. “They’re ready to prove themselves and I couldn’t be more excited.”
While some of the names up and down the roster have changed, the style of football in Ell-Saline has not, and opponents will need to be wary of both the electric speed and bruising power that the Cardinals play with every Friday.
“We like to outhit, and outblock everyone and we’re led by a wonderful senior class,” he said. Those guys are the foundation of our program, and they’ve been here from the beginning.”
Also unchanged are the expectations in Brookville, where a trip to the state semis has only fueled the fire of this Cardinal program.
“We want to make a deep run and we have a deep roster for the first time in a couple of years to do it,” Roche said. “We learned last year that we deserve to be here when we made that deep playoff run. Our guys put in the work, they play hard and there's a lot of real excitement in the community around Ell-Saline football.”
The Cardinals open the 2024 campaign at home when they play host to the Hanover Wildcats at 7:00.
2024 Ell-Saline Football Schedule
9/6: vs. Hanover
9/13: vs. Osborne
9/20: vs. Norwich
9/27: at Canton-Galva
10/4: vs. Solomon
10/11: at Little River
10/18: vs. Goessel
10/25: at Central Plains