By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After a successful 6-3 campaign in 2021, the Bennington football team closed out the following season without a single win to their name, but will be eager to get back on the right side of things when the 2023 season kicks off this week.
“Our confidence has grown over the offseason and we have a better understanding as individuals of what our job is,” Bulldog head coach Bryan Shamburg said. “They know their assignments and we’re not as inexperienced as we were last year. I think we’ll second guess ourselves much less.”
Scoring points was far from the problem for an offense that was never held below 14, and many of the key pieces from that unit return for another year.
“I think our offense will be a real strength again,” Shamburg said. “I feel like we’re clicking on that side of the ball in all eight spots.”
The biggest offensive returner comes in the form of quarterback Kian Wilson, who will return to the backfield alongside a rotation of running backs that will include Gabe Davidson, Payge Rodenbeek, and Logan Gillett.
The Bulldogs also return tight end Jace Ohlson, as well as both of their tackles in Logan Rook and Jonathan Golbek, who will slot in alongside freshman center Ayden Levendofsky on the O-Line.
Arguably the biggest challenge for Bennington will be in their ability to stop the pass, something that aided in their opponents averaging over 40 points per game in 2022.
“Our physicality will be a big question mark,” he said. “When you’re a small team you can’t beat each other up too much in practice. Ball security has been a big thing we’ve worked on and we’ve also worked to improve our pass coverage and tackling.”
On defense, Logan Rook and Jonathan Golbek return to anchor the D-Line, while Cole Young and Gabe Davidson reprise their roles at linebacker.
The Bulldogs will also get a great deal of talent back in their secondary with Jace Ohlson, Talan Pickering, John Janssen, Payge Rodenbeek, and Kian Wilson all returning to patrol the deepest parts of the field.
With a heavy emphasis on cutting down mistakes, Bennington’s quest to restore their program will focus on introspection, as the Bulldogs prepare for kickoff this Friday night.
“We talk about controlling what we can control and having everybody do their job and if we do that the result will be the result,” Shamburg said. “Last year there were a lot of times when we beat ourselves but we’ve moved on from that.”
The Bulldogs will open the 2023 season on Friday, September 1st when they play host to Goessel at 7:00.