By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Three years ago, the Ellsworth Bearcats finished the 2020 football season just 2-6, with one of the youngest rosters in the state of Kansas.
A year later, the team once again recorded just two wins, but this time, fell in five of those losses by just one score.
The Bearcats knew they had something special, and in 2021 all of the pieces fell into place, culminating in an explosive 8-2 campaign, and the first playoff win for the program since 2014.
“Most of these guys have been starting since they were freshmen and last year we were finally big enough to really compete,” Bearcat head coach Josh Homolka said.
The scariest part about all of this for the eight teams on Ellsworth’s schedule; the Bearcats graduated just one senior in 2022.
With a slew of three and four-year starters back for one last year, Ellsworth will have a pristine opportunity to take their program to new heights in 2023, and to continue building something that Coach Homokla hopes will last far beyond this season.
“We’re trying to build a real football program here, not just one or two years of excellence,” he said. “I’m hoping that the younger kids all the way down to our junior high look up and see how these guys do the right things and handle their business.”
One of the biggest “business handlers” over the last several years has been quarterback Will Cravens, who racked up 1,474 yards of total offense and 25 touchdowns in 2023.
Cravens will return to the backfield alongside a pair of 500-yard rushers from 2022 in Loden West and Wyatt Bohnen, as well as Salina South transfer Ian Andalon.
He will also have all of his favorite weapons back in his arsenal as Cole Webber, Layton Leiker, and Dax Leiker all return to terrorize opposing secondaries.
The line blocking for this group will feature five familiar faces in Trent Hays, Tyler Conley, Micah Galvan, Jordan Rodriguez, and Brendan Anderson.
In the defensive trenches, the Bearcats return two-way stars Hays, Anderson, and Rodriguez in addition to Riley Stone, while Ian Andalon and Dax Leiker patrol the secondary.
And finally, Ellsworth has all of its heavy hitters back in the linebacker corps as Cole Webber, Layton Leiker, Tucker Goss, and Loden West all reprise their roles.
The only real question marks for the Bearcats will come in their depth, and how the team handles the pressure of sky-high expectations as a new known quantity in the 2A landscape.
“I think as a football program to be considered a top team in the state is new for us,” he said. “I’ll be interested to see how we handle our business when we have a target on our back.”
As for goals, Ellsworth remains humble, but will work week-by-week to build themselves into a true contender come late October.
“We’re breaking things into three seasons,” Homolka said. “We want to build through our non-conference schedule, play well in our district to earn a high seed for the playoffs, and see if we can’t set ourselves up to make a run.”
The Bearcats will open their 2023 campaign on the road when they take on a league rival in the Beloit Trojans at 7:00 on Friday, September 1.