An impending switch at quarterback for Great Bend High School’s football team may have to wait.
Then again, it may not.
Great Bend head coach Bo Black said Thursday afternoon that inserting Matt Marshall into the starting quarterback position for tonight’s non-conference game with Wichita North hinges on Marshall’s availability. Marshall suffered a knee bruise during last week’s 45-28 loss to Garden City in the Western Athletic Conference opener.
“I really can’t answer that,” Black said, “because Marshall has a bruised knee. He played there (on Wednesday night) in practice, kind of at half-speed.
“We’re hoping he’s full-speed  (tonight). He was kind of wobbling around, so we might not know until (this morning).
Junior Bryce Beck started the season at quarterback, although Marshall, a senior, who was the backup to Mitch Kottas a year ago, has seen action in all three of the Panthers’ games, including getting most of the repititions against Garden City.
Beck has thrown for 185 yards this season and Marshall has passed for 171. They only have one touchdown pass between the two.
“If Matt is healthy, he’ll play most of it for sure,” Black said. “If he’s not, Bryce will play all of it. If Matt’s at quarterback, Bryce will be at wide receiver.
“I’m not excited about playing two of them at quarterback. I’d rather play one. We’d like to make that change, but it’s just not healthy right now. We want to keep Bryce involved in a lot of things that we’re doing, so we’re just going to have to wait and see.”