After winning its season opener on the road, a 37-25 triumph at Ellsworth High School, the Larned football team will return home for a Mid-Central Activities Association showdown with Ellinwood tonight at 7.
“We’re expecting them to play us hard,” Larned head coach A.B. Stokes said of Ellinwood. “They have some big kids on the line and some pretty good skilled kids in the backfield that can make plays. They always play us hard.”
It will be the season’s second MCAA matchup for Ellinwood, which fell to Thomas More Prep Marian at home, 24-8.
Indians quarterback Easton Palmer rushed for a team-leading 160 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for three more against the Bearcats.
Palmer completed 10 of 18 passes for 182 yards.
“He led us with his arm and his legs,” Stokes said. “He understood that we lost most of our offensive production in graduating Brady Keith, so he knew he’d be expected to step up.
“We’re definitely going to expect this out of him all season. If there is a running back that gets in a rhythm, we might not run him as much, but this is his offense.”
Palmer connected with Brayden Smith, Tyler Stelter and Isiah Perez for TDs.
Grant Unruh led Larned with 74 receiving yards.
Landon Erway rushed for 43 yards and a score. He also had one fumble.
Ellinwood only managed 106 yards of total offense against the Monarchs.
“By no means are we happy with how things went last week, but I think we’ve put that behind us,” Ellinwood head coach Dusty Beam said. “We took away good things to build on and some places where we need to improve. That was just Week 1, so I’m not worried just yet.”
Eagles quarterback Kaleb Schartz completed 6 of 7 passes for 72 yards and one touchdown.
Tanner Swank, who was on the receiving end of that TD, had a team-leading 43 receiving yards.
Colton Churchill rushed for 32 yards.

Victoria (1-0) at St. John-Hudson (1-0)
 St. John found a workhorse in senior tailback Schuyler Brown.
Brown rushed for 202 yards, including 175 and four touchdowns in the second half of a 64-44 win over Otis-Bison.
Tigers quarterback Preston Miller completed 9 of 21 passes for 178 yards and two scores. He also threw two interceptions.
Preston Nemec was Miller’s No. 1 target with 109 yards and one TD.
Dean Wade, 6-foot-8 receiver, reeled in a 5-yard score on his way to 67 yards.
Victoria beat Macksville 58-30 to open its season last season.
Bryan Dome led the Knights with 143 rushing yards.
Quarterback Sam Ottley completed 8 of 16 passes for 105 yards.

Ness City (1-0) at Macksville (0-1)
Last season, Macksville quarterback Tanner Tranbarger compiled 2,346 yards of total offense.
The Mustangs are going to need that kind of production again if it hopes to bounce back from a 58-30 setback at Victoria.
Tranbarger completed 13 of 21 passes for 105 yards and one touchdown to Simon Miller, who had 68 yards receiving.
The Mustangs couldn’t get their ground game going as they only amassed 22 yards. Tranbarger carried the ball 14 times for 16 yards and two TDs.
Ness City rushed for 341 yards and six touchdowns in its 46-14 win over Kinsley last Friday.
Jacob Hoss led the Eagles with 120 yards.
Senior Morgan Flax and junior Tanner McMillen each scored two rushing touchdowns.

Otis-Bison (0-1) at Central Plains (1-0)
Otis-Bison will have its hands full with Central Plains quarterback Braedan Crites, who thrashed Stafford’s defense for 257 yards and five touchdowns last week. He completed 12 of 16 passes (75 percent) as the Oilers won 72-44.
Receiver Layne Bieberle had 65 receiving yards and two scores, and Michael Lamatch had a team-leading 75 yards in receptions.
Crites also rushed for 76 yards and a pair of TDs.
Otis-Bison has a scoring threat of its own in quarterback Kole Urban.
Urban rushed for 168 yards and four scores, completing 6 of 12 passes for 81 yards and a TD. He also returned a pair of kickoffs for touchdowns covering 79 and 75 yards.
Urban accounted for all of the Cougars touchdowns, with DeJay Vaughn on the receiving end of a 5-yard TD in a 64-44 loss at St. John last Friday.

La Crosse (1-0) at Hoisington (0-1)
Hoisington is coming off a 35-7 setback at Class 5A Great Bend.
The Cardinals only managed 185 yards of total offense, including 123 rushing yards.
Senior Avery Urban, a two-way starter for Hoisington, led the team with 57 rushing yards and the Cardinals’ lone score.
Brad Reif completed 4 of 16 passes for 62 yards. He threw one interception.
La Crosse is not going to be a walk in the park, either.
The Leopards defeated Ellis 45-0 to open the season.
La Crosse quarterback Jack Garcia completed 9 of 16 passes for 230 yards and four TDs.

Burrton (0-1) at Stafford (0-1)
Last season, Stafford’s backfield produced 2,343 rushing yards and a measly 178 passing yards.
If Week 1 was any indication, that is about to change.
Trojans quarterback Derek McClure completed 7 of 13 passes for 134 yards in Stafford’s 72-44 loss at Central Plains. He connected for three touchdowns — two to Ethan Johnson and one to Austin Ceniti.
That’s not to say Stafford is abandoning the run.
Tristian Paulsen had 171 rushing yards and a TD. Ceniti added 36 yards and a score.
Burrton is coming off a 52-0 loss at home against Fairfield.