Marysville Hosts The Bulldawgs

From the Capital Journal

MARYSVILLE — Winning last year’s season opener was huge for Marysville.

Not only did it get the 2015 season off to a positive start, it ended a 32-game losing streak for the Bulldogs.

Perhaps more important for the program, however, was what the Bulldogs did to back it up. Instead of letting the victory be a lone bright spot, Marysville built on it and won three more games and in the process earned a berth in the Class 3A playoffs.

“It was huge for our kids and our confidence,” Marysville coach Dustin Heuer said. “Winning a couple more and finishing the season strong, especially because we had to fight through some injuries and adversity, was a big deal for us.

“It was a building block and what I like about these guys the most is they’re not content with what they’ve done. They have bigger goals than what we’ve accomplished up to this point.”

The momentum gained during last year’s 4-6 season has led to loftier expectations for the 2016 season. Heuer and the Bulldogs will get a pretty strong indicator as to just how far the program has come in Friday’s season and home opener when Marysville faces two-time reigning 3A state champion Rossville in The Capital-Journal’s area game of the week.

“It’s a great test for where we’re at and will do a great job of preparing us for our NCKL season,” Heuer said of facing the Bulldawgs, who enter 2016 on a 28-game winning streak — the longest current streak in the state. “I think our kids are excited about the potential we have and this will be a great way to rate ourselves in the first week.”

In a sense, Rossville coach Derick Hammes shares Heuer’s sentiments. Though Rossville is coming off two straight undefeated state championship seasons, the Bulldawgs enter 2016 with almost an entirely different personality.

Rossville was able to successfully fill some big holes in 2015 for its title run, but the voids this year are even bigger. For starters, there’s the matter of replacing two-time All-State quarterback Tucker Horak, who turned in arguably the greatest statistical season in state history last year.

Beyond that, the Bulldawgs graduated all but one starter off a dominating offensive line that was a major key to the team’s success. Only four starters return on offense, while six are back defensively.

“We’re expecting a good football game and for us, we do have some question marks,” Hammes said. “We think we know what we have, but until you line up and play good people, you never know. Playing a team like (Marysville) right off the get-go lets us know if we’re for real or do we have some things to work on and a long way to go.

“(Marysville) is going to be ready to go and not be intimidated by us because they play good teams year-in, year-out. They’ll have great confidence coming off what was a good season for them.”

Experience is a major plus for Marysville, which returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense, many of whom are in their third year as starters. Senior Hunter Warnick ran for 785 yards last year and was the third-leading tackler in the North Central Kansas League with 95.

Teammate Adam Lindhorst added 85 tackles and senior 300-pounder Greg Martin is one of four returning starters up front.

Coming off a breakout season a year ago, Marysville is hungry to continue its upward rise, post a winning season and make a playoff run.

“As much as you try to avoid the situation, last year I think our kids were just happy to make the playoffs — and they had every right to be,” Heuer said. “Now having that experience, they’re able to look at it with a desire to take another step forward.”

With Horak gone, the Rossville offense will be led by senior Jacob Bradshaw who served as the backup last year while starting at receiver and racking up 932 combined rushing, passing and receiving yards. The Bulldawgs return 1,000-yard rusher Dawson Hammes, who also was an All-3A pick at linebacker after making 159 tackles, and leading receiver Cole Schumacher.

“Our playmakers, they’ll have different names but we’ve got some kids in our offense that are doing some really nice things for us,” Hammes said. “I think our line is coming together a little faster than what we thought it would, so we’re in a good place offensively. Defensively, it seems like the last two years we’ve had to put a lot of effort into getting up to speed on that side of the ball and in that aspect, we’re kind of in the same spot we’ve been in.”