By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Despite having one of the toughest schedules in the state, the Ell-Saline Cardinals will be hosting their playoff opener as they welcome in the 3-4 Stanton County Trojans.
The Cardinals will enter the playoffs at 3-5, with four of those losses coming at the hands of top-five teams in Class 1A and the other coming to a 2A school in Marion.
“We talked before we went into that stretch about facing adversity,” Ell-Saline head coach Joe Roche said. “There was nothing that ate our team up throughout that. We remained positive and realistic and went about our business.”
While that brutal portion of their schedule didn’t produce many wins, it has prepared the Cardinals for this moment as they get set to make a run in a loaded 1A Class.
“I think we learned a lot of hard lessons this season,” Roche said. “We’re going to use those to hopefully outhit and be more physical than Stanton County on Friday night.”
While the Cardinals will have a majority of their team ready to go for this game, the offense will be without senior running back Obed Ruiz, who leads the team with 240 yards on the ground this year.
Despite the loss, Ell-Saline can still look to the excellent play of quarterback Kade Wilson, who enters this game just 90 yards away from a 1,000 yard passing season.
While Wilson has excelled at moving the ball down the field, turnovers continue to be the big question mark as the junior quarterback has thrown nine interceptions compared to just six touchdowns.
“We need to fine-tune our passing game a little more if we want to make a run in the playoffs,” Roche said. “We’re also hoping we can establish the run a little more to open up our offense.”
Stanton County is led on offense by 6-3 running back Sam Canny, and stopping him will be critical for the Cardinals defense on Friday.
Ell-Saline shares just one common opponent with the Trojans, as each of them fell big to Sedgewick earlier this season.
That very Sedgewick team will await the winner of this one fresh off a much-needed bye this week.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm at Ell-Saline high school. For more on the Cardinals football team throughout the postseason stay tuned to the Salina Post.