By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Salina South Cougars will hit the road for the opening round of the 2021 playoffs to face a familiar foe in the Andover Trojans.
Andover will enter this game at 6-2 while the Cougars come in at 1-7, looking to right the ship at the tail end of a rough season.
The Cougars lost several key players to season-ending injuries and will still be without bruising running back Brandt Cox and two-way standout Kreighton Modrow, but despite all of that the team is starting to put the pieces together down the stretch.
“We are playing better football recently,” South head coach Sam Sellers said. “We still turn the ball over too much and we’re still wildly inconsistent but we’ve got a lot of kids who have gotten a lot better as this season has gone on especially these last few weeks.”
The Cougars will have to play the best football of their season against a physical Andover team that doesn’t make many mistakes.
“Andover is a ball-control team that plays physical, old school football,” Sellers said. “They don’t turn it over and it’s important to take care of the ball every week but especially against a team like that.”
Salina South will also be coming off a tough loss in the Mayor's Cup to Salina Central, but the energy in practice and in the locker room has been great heading into this contest.
“On Monday morning the guys were ready to go,” he said. “Our seniors have talked a lot this week about not wanting this to be their last game and we’ve put together a nice week of practice. We don’t feel like we’ve put our A-Game together yet and this week would be a great time to do that.”
This game will be a grueling one for the Cougars, but the team is certainly capable of winning a battle that will be every bit as mental as it is physical.
“Defensively we have to match their physicality,” Sellers said. “Offensively we continue our seemingly endless quest to play consistent football. We’ve done some really good things but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”
The winner of this contest will advance to face 7-2 Hays who survived Goddard-Eisenhower 19-13 on Thursday night.
Kickoff between the Cougars and Trojans is set for 7pm at Andover high school.
For more on Salina South athletics stay tuned to the Salina Post.