The Great Bend High School football team will wander into the great unknown tonight when the Panthers challenge Leavenworth at 7 p.m.
The Pioneers are a new team on the football slate for the Panthers.
Really, neither team fully knows what to expect from the other.
“That’s really something you run into at the beginning of every season,” GBHS head coach Tony Crough said. “Sometimes you only get a little film that agree over the summer to send to the other guy, and it’s usually just them playing a scrimmage against themselves.
“You don’t see that they do against a real team.”
So the Panthers have focused on themselves.
“We’ve really focused on getting better each day,” Crough said. “We’re looking good. We’ve been spending the last week improving every day. We’re working, fine tuning some things and game-planning for (today).”
Still, Crough said he knows the basics about the Pioneers.
“They are fast,” Crough said. “They got a lot of speed, and they try to stretch you out side-to-side and vertically. On defense, they’ve got some size on the line. They’ve got some linebackers and defensive backs with some speed.
“On offense, they try to make you miss. When you miss, they’ll turn that into big plays.”
Crough expects tonight’s game to be a war between opposites.
“It’ll be a tale of two different styles,” Crough said. “We’re going to try to pound the ball and get our power run game going, and they’re going to try to beat us with their speed and quickness.”
So what’s the deciding factor?
“(Not missing tackles) is easier said than done,” Crough said. “We’re going to miss a few tackles. The key is, it’s Game 1, there’s goingn to be mistakes for both teams.
“The difference will be which team can recover from them.”