It’s time to shake things off.
Last week, the Great Bend High School football team opened up the season with a 19-0 loss on the road at Leavenworth.
Now it’s time to come home.
The Panthers host Western Athletic Conference rival Hays.
“Our focus has been just to get better,” GBHS head coach Tony Crough said. “We’re focusing on improving. When you go out and have the poor performance on offense the way we did last week, you want to get better.”
If that wasn’t enough, Great Bend will be reunited with its former head coach, Bo Black, who will be running on things on the opposite sideline.
“The kids are ready for this one,” Crough said of his team facing their rivals. “The kids are pumped up. There’s not a whole lot of motivation needed when facing Hays.”
Hays is coming off a similarly long road trip to Olathe Northwest. The Indians came away with a 12-10 victory.
Great Bend’s game against the Pioneers was a game of two halves. The Panthers looked like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
On one side, defensively, Great Bend looked great.
Offensively, Great Bend struggled.
The Panthers forced three turnovers.
But no points were scored as a result.
The Panthers made two goal-line stands, one that ended in a field goal and the other a turnover on downs.
Great Bend quarterback Shade Wondra completed 9 of 16 passes for 44 yards. He spread the ball out to five different receivers.
Trent Uselton led the Panthers with 65 rushing yards.
“Everything will go through Trent and Shade,” Crough said. “We’re hoping to get the ball to some other guys, but Trent is our workhorse back there.
“We hope to get our passing game together, as well.”
Defensively, Great Bend was led by Brady Michel, who had 4.5 tackles.
Branden Paden and Bryce Lytle each forced a fumble, and Ty Yager came down with an interception.
Yager and Wyatt Bryant combined for a sack.
“Our focus, defensively, is on how to stop Alex Delton,” Crough said. “All eyes, defensively, are on Delton. We were pleased with how we did defensively last week. We’re just working on improving.”