By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
For the last six years, the Minneapolis Lions have flirted with the idea of making a run on the gridiron.
During that span, they’ve finished each season no better than 5-4 but no worse than 4-5.
Head coach Tom Flax hopes this will finally be the year the Lions take that next step.
“I really think we can make a deep run,” he said. “We’ve got the guys to do it, and the depth to do it. We’re going to be tested in these early weeks by our schedule, but we feel like we have an even district. There are some tough teams, and everyone has athletes, but if we can put it all together, I think we can make a deep run.”
Fortunately for Minneapolis, their centerpiece, quarterback and DB Owen Just, returns for his junior season after getting to grips with the Friday night lights as a sophomore.
“Owen’s gotten bigger and stronger,” Flax said. “He had a great summer, and he’s probably put on 15 pounds. At 6-2 he’s big, he has good maturity and he knows what to do with the football. I see him making a lot of good decisions, and he’s a savvy kid who’s shown great growth.”
Just will be protected by an O-Line that also returns a great deal of experience, featuring Ryan Myers, Gavin Baringer, and Dalton Krueger.
With strong protection in the trenches, the group that can really shine are the ones Just will be looking for through the air and on the ground on Friday nights.
“We have a lot of skill guys returning that can get the ball and make something good happen, and that feels like a strength,” Flax said. “We’re pretty solid up front, but we’ve got some real playmakers this year.”
Chief among that group are running back Mason Smith and Brayton Peters, wideout Zach Nelson, and tight ends Ethan Bohl and Grant Rice.
While the talent should be on full display every Friday, most of Minneapolis’ starters will be playing both ways, requiring a lot of juice in the tank to contend with some of the bigger teams on their schedule.
“We have to figure out who we are, especially in terms of physicality,” Flax said. “When you open up with Southeast, you can’t lack that, and we’ll be looking for that on both sides of the ball from our line to our backfield and safeties.”
That opening-week matchup with Southeast of Saline is set for this Friday in Gypsum at 7:00 and will be the first of three road games in four weeks to kick off the Lions season.
2024 Minneapolis Football Schedule
9/6: at SE of Saline
9/13: vs. Lyons
9/20: at Ellsworth
9/27: at Norton
10/4: vs. Halstead
10/11: vs. Beloit
10/18: at Russell
10/25: vs. Phillipsburg