By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
It’s been another tough start to the season Salina South, who for the second time in as many years, will enter the home stretch of their campaign at 0-5.
Faced with the gauntlet of the AVCTL-I, the Cougars have been outscored by a collective 172 points on the year, taking on some of the toughest schools in Class 5A.
Despite all the hardships faced this year, including a heart-wrenching 35-27 loss at the hands of Haysville-Campus, Salina South remains focused on the slow and steady rebuild of its program, seeking to restore things to a time of former glory.
“We needed to completely reboot our program this year,” head coach Sam Sellers said. “When you haven’t won a whole lot you get so focused on winning that you overlook the process and that’s counterproductive. This group has improved by leaps and bounds with how they practice and prepare, and that player-driven energy has been great to see.”
In an eerie repeat of the 2022 season, injuries have played a big role in South’s struggles, as the team lost starting quarterback Landon Putman on the second drive of week two.
In the junior’s place, senior Layson Sajdak has taken the reigns, scoring five total touchdowns and aiding Carson Power, who has carried the ball 99 times for 470 yards and four touchdowns.
Injured or healthy, the Cougars have no choice but to press on and continue to look for ways to improve rather than finding excuses.
“Our next big step is being consistent with the details,” Sellers said. “At times we do some really good things and other times we have a missed assignment or have a technique breakdown. The other big thing is physicality, we’ve certainly improved in that department but we have a ways to go, it’s something we talk about every single day.”
The schedule won’t be kind to South, who will get a brief respite this week against 2-3 Newton before facing undefeated Goddard-Eisenhower and 4-1 Maize South in back-to-back weeks to conclude their regular season.
Nonetheless, the Cougars will continue to seek that same steady improvement as they continue laying the groundwork of better things to come.
“My hope is that we see this team continue embracing the process,” Sellers said. “Hopefully we can get a few guys back over the next few weeks and if we continue to focus on the process good things will happen for us.”
The Cougars will be back on the field on Friday, October 6th when they host the Newton Railers.