The Salina Central Mustangs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Great Bend Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Salina Central put the finishing touches on their third blowout victory of the season on Friday. They breezed by Arkansas City at home to the tune of 70-27. Given Salina Central's advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas football rankings (they are ranked 41st, while Arkansas City is ranked 129th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Salina Central's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Elijah Wilson led the charge by rushing for 213 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries. Wilson really tore up the turf during one magnificent 76-yard run. The team also got some help courtesy of Jack Gordon, who threw for 357 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 17.9 yards per attempt.
Great Bend fell on hard times earlier this season, but after back-to-back wins it seems like their luck might finally be changing. They strolled past Garden City with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 35-21.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Great Bend to victory, but perhaps none more so than Cody Miller, who rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown. Another player making a difference was Daxton Minton, who rushed for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Salina Central is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season. As for Great Bend, their win was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 5-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's contest: Salina Central has been excellent in the air this season, having averaged 269.1 passing yards per game. It's a different story for Great Bend, though, as they've been averaging only 140.2 per game. How will Great Bend fare against such a dominant passing game?
Salina Central didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Great Bend when the teams last played back in November of 2022, but they still walked away with a 40-35 win. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Great Bend's Cayden Scheuerman, who rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be that much easier for Salina Central to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
