By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After an uncharacteristic down year in 2020, the Central Mustang football team is primed and ready for a big bounce back in 2021.
“We asked our kids for some of the goals that they wanted to set and it all comes back to the winning standard of Salina Central football,” Mustang head coach Mark Sandbo said. “I’m really proud of how our seniors handled some of the adversity last year and I think that’s a good indicator of where we’re at as a program.”
While the work in the offseason has brought new energy to the Central locker room, coach Sandbo acknowledged that the results still need to become apparent on the field.
“We’re evaluated on if we’re winning football games,” he said. “I feel like there’s an expectation to get back to winning and more importantly winning in November.”
Returning for another season under center is second-year starter Parker Kavanaugh, who will have an opportunity to write his name on several lines of the Central Mustang record books this year.
Kavanaugh will be joined for an encore in the backfield by running backs Micah Moore and Kenyon McMillan, who will look to build off their work from a season ago.
The Mustangs air attack will feature several veterans at receiver as well, led by seniors Hayden Vidricksen and Logan Losey, while the offensive line will feature three seniors in Angel Luna, Mykell Williams, and Sabian Mills, joined by a pair of juniors in Mason Clark and Kaleb Marshall.
For Central to find success on the field this season, cutting down turnovers will be a must, as free possessions for opponents led to a number of the Mustang's eight losses last year.
“We really turned it over and shot ourselves in the foot a lot last season,” Sandbo said. “We weren’t great at executing situationally and we have to nail down some of those kinds of things that we struggled with in 2020.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Central returns seven starters from a year ago and hopes to get back to a more physical style of football.
“Defensively we’re going to be better tacklers and we’ll be just as, if not more physical than we were last year,” he said. “I’m excited about the physicality that we’ve seen going into Friday.
Jaxson Kolzow will return to the field after suffering a broken wrist in 2020 for his senior year at high safety while fellow senior Mason Gary takes over as the secondary’s top cornerback.
There will be plenty of experience in the linebacking corps as well with juniors Kayson Graham and Brooks Richardson patrolling the inside while Dawson Hogan and Nick Clayton work the outside.
In the trenches, the Mustangs will see a lot of turnover from last year, but the unit anchored by Calvin Hemmer and Brayden McKnight is more than up to the task according to coach Sandbo.
Central will kick off their 2021 season at Haysville Campus on September third and will wrap up their regular season against their cross-town rival in Salina South on October 22nd.