By John Mesh
The Nickerson Panthers football returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense from a team that finished 1-8 overall and 0-5 in district play.
Taylor Bauman, who has a career record of 24-40, returns for his third season at Nickerson High School. He is assisted by Scott Hambrick, Parker Bruce, Sparky Kreutzer, Kyle Vedder and Ben Ketchum.
The Panthers are a Kansas Class 3A school that competes in the Central Kansas League. District teams are Pratt, Andale, Smoky Valley and Cheney.
Key returning players for the Panthers are Addrick Nelson, Keastin Abernathy and Landen Hays, seniors; Kris Monroe, Austin Peterson, Riley Brawner and Jayden Belote, juniors; and Rylan Morrell and Zein Rector, sophomores.
Players lost to graduation are Karson Engelland, Logan Rogers, Cage Kelly, Cody Spurlock, Michael Nolde, Jeremiah Hearon, Skyler Wakefield, Zach Strawder and Ayla Ontjes.
Bauman said the Panthers hope to be solid on offense and defense.
“On offense we want to be simple enough that we can play without thinking and complex enough that the defense doesn’t know what we are doing,” Bauman said. “We have a lot of speed returning but not a lot of size. We need to take advantage of that and make defenses cover the whole width of the field.
“We have several starters or players that have Friday night experience, so that is where we have to start with. We have to be tough, disciplined and patient. Our defense has to work on making the play when it is presented to them and play their position and not try to play someone else’s position. We have to play within the system and the returning players have a great understanding of what has to be done.”
“This team is presented with the challenge of replacing key players lost to graduation. We have to be simple on defense, so that they can play fast and not think. Offensively, we need to be discipline and continue to build on the work put in over the summer. We expect great character and leadership from our returning players. They are a close-knit, passionate group and we expect them to spread these qualities throughout the team during the course of the year.”
Nickerson opens the season on Sept. 6 at Conway Springs and plays at Haven on Sept. 13. Other roads game are Andale, Oct. 4; Lyons, Oct. 11; and Wichita Trinity Academy, Oct. 25.
Home games for the Panthers are Halstead, Sept. 20; Hesston, Sept. 27; and Smoky Valley, Oct. 18.