By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After winning five of their last six to close out the regular season, the Salina Central Mustangs will enter a loaded 5A bracket with positive momentum and high aspirations.
Central will open their playoff run with a rematch against a 3-5 Andover team that the Mustangs defeated in a 54-44 shootout earlier this year.
“The whole season builds up to this but everybody in 5A west is so good and from 3-12 there are a lot of really good football teams that are capable of beating each another,” Mustang head coach Mark Sandbo said. “Everybody starts off 0-0 and everyone has the same mentality of wanting to play your best football and start things off with a big win.”
Both the Mustangs and Trojans will be putting an emphasis on tightening up their defense this time around, after combining for 98 points in their week four tilt.
“We don’t want to give up 44 again and I’m sure they don’t want to give up 54,” Sandbo said. “We ran the ball really effectively against them and we’d like to have that productivity again but they’re really well coached and they have a lot of athleticism and physicality on defense. I think yards and points are going to be harder to come by on both sides.”
While Andover’s offense stalled down the home stretch, failing to score more than 14 points in the final three weeks, Central’s found another gear, and the Mustangs will enter the playoffs with the fourth-best scoring (45.3 ppg) and third-best total offense (435 yds/g) in Class 5A.
“We’re not looking ahead but we have an explosive offense and I would say that unit is state championship caliber,” he said. “We have that type of efficiency and playmakers and we’re operating really well but we still need to be better. To win football games now your defense is going to have to play well and I’m glad ours is taking steps in the right direction.”
In addition to setting the tone for the rest of the postseason, this matchup with Andover will be a great measuring stick for a Central defense that has struggled at times against the run, against a Trojan offense that posts over 230 rushing yards a game.
“I feel like we’ve taken steps in the right direction and we’re not the same team that took the field against Andover in week four,” Sandbo said. “I think our biggest growth has come in what we’re doing defensively where we had a lot of guys getting their first nods early in the year.”
Just as it was in week four, the Mustangs will host this matchup, much to the delight of the Salina faithful who are expected to turn out in numbers for what should be a phenomenal postseason matchup.
“I think it’s big for our seniors and for our community to have this game at home,” he said. “There’s a lot of electricity in this fanbase for a home playoff game and we talk all the time about how pressure is privilege and the expectations around here are to win in November. We’re not quite to November yet but this would be a big step towards our goals.”
Kickoff between the Mustangs and Trojans is set for 7 pm at Salina Stadium with the winner advancing to take on 6-2 Great Bend or 3-5 Goddard-Eisenhower in the round of 16.
For continuing coverage of this year’s Mustang playoff run stay tuned to the Salina Post.