By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Despite opening their 2022 campaign at 0-5, the Bennington Bulldogs remain optimistic about the progress they’ve seen and will look to put the pieces together in the final three games of the season.
“This team has made steady improvement in key areas throughout the year, especially on that offensive line,” Bulldog head coach Bryan Shamburg said. “Overall as the season has gone on we’ve come together better as a team and the guys have remained coachable.”
Statistically, Bennington has been much better than your average 0-5 8-Man team, falling to 4-1 Sylvan-Lucas by just four points and to 4-1 Ell-Saline by just 14.
With such slim margins, the Bulldogs aren’t far away from an elusive first win, but will need to tighten up some problem areas to seal the deal and get there.
“The difference between close losses and close wins has all come down to turnovers and stopping the big play,” Shamburg said. “If we can take care of the ball better and stop big plays we can flip that script.”
In terms of raw offense, Bennington has only been outgained by 137 yards through five games thanks in part to sophomore signal caller Kian Wilson.
Wilson has thrown for over 700 yards in just five games with six touchdowns on the season, but has made a few underclassmen errors handing over eight picks in 2022.
As the season has progressed and the young quarterback has settled in, Bennington has built their offense on a passing game that will be the strength of the unit down the home stretch.
“We’re getting better at passing the football,” he said. Our receivers have been better and that’s allowed us to utilize our speed.”
While a long string of narrow losses would be maddening to most locker rooms, the Bulldogs have remained steadfast in their commitment to patching up their holes and pressing forward.
“Since the games have been so close and since we’ve been able to score quick the guys’ attitudes have been great,” Shamburg said. “They’ve been very coachable and they understand what we need to fix to get where we want to be.”
With two games upcoming against 1-4 Rock Hills and 1-4 Lincoln, the Bulldogs will have a prime opportunity to build some momentum heading into a week eight matchup against 4-1 Clifton-Clyde.
“We would love to win out,” he said. “If we can fix a lot of the mistakes we’ve been talking about we think that’s possible but we have to take things one game at a time. If our guys can get one big win I think that would be a huge monkey off our back.”
Bennington will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Mankato for a battle with Rock Hills.
For continuing coverage of Bulldog football stay tuned to the Salina Post.