There will be no traditional Thanksgiving break this week for Salina Central’s football team.
But ask the Mustangs if they mind spending their free time on the practice field and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve always wanted to practice during Thanksgiving break,” said junior quarterback Griffin Hall. “It’s a pretty cool thing.”
Cool because it not only means Central is still alive in the Class 5A playoffs but has reached the championship game for the first time in 20 years. The Mustangs (11-1) will take on East No. 1 seed Basehor-Linwood (12-0) at 2 p.m. Friday at Welch Stadium in Emporia.
If that means passing up a week of leisure, so be it.
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s amazing,” senior linebacker Abram Owings said following the Mustangs’ 30-28 semifinal victory last week at previously unbeaten Great Bend. “The last 20 years, (Central has had) no chance at a state championship.”
“This group of guys has been playing together for a really long time, and we knew at the start of this year and this summer that we had a chance to do something unbelievable, and now we’re here.”
The last time Central played for a championship, the 2005 Mustangs took home the school’s sixth state title. “We would like to bring home (number) seven for Salina Central, for sure,” said eighth-year head coach Mark Sandbo.
To do that, the Mustangs must get pass a Basehor-Linwood team that emerged from the rugged East bracket undefeated, edging St. James Academy in last Friday’s semifinal, 28-20. The Bobcats are making their first-ever championship appearance.
“They’re good,” Sandbo said. “They’re well coached, good scheme. Offensively they know what they want to do, and they do it really well.
“Defensively they’re multiple and they give you different looks. They’re fast, they’re physical with a lot of guys flying to the ball, which speaks a lot to their staff and the way they coach.”
Basehor-Linwood won the United Kansas Conference and then beat Blue Valley Southwest (28-10), DeSoto (35-28), Leavenworth (31-7) and St. James in the playoffs to reach the finals. Central’s playoff run included home victories over Topeka West (28-22), Goddard (62-32) and Salina South (49-24) before upsetting Great Bend.
Central and Basehor-Linwood’s only common opponent was Topeka West, which the Bobcats handled easily, 63-6, in an Oct. 3 conference matchup.
For Basehor-Linwood, senior quarterback Carson Dixon has thrown for 1,852 yards and 21 touchdowns, plus rushed for 707 yards and eight scores. Sophomore Gavin Mitchell leads the Bobcats in rushing with 979 yards and 16 scores, while senior Nash Morrison has 58 catches for 892 yards and 10 TDs.
Senior Cooper Reves has been a workhorse for Central, rushing for 2,571 yards and 28 touchdowns, while Hall has run for 897 yards and thrown for 1,690 and 27 scores. Four Mustang receivers — Bodie Rodriguez (30-379 yards), Keaton Smith (30-408), Gannon Cole (24-393) and Reves (24-187) have better than 20 catches.
Reves ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns, while Hall added 89 yards and a touchdown pass against Great Bend. The Mustangs were 5-for-5 on fourth down, including scoring passes from Owings to Rodriguez on a fake field goal and a 23-yarder from Hall to senior linebacker Jesus Delgado in the final minute that proved to be the game winner.
But now Basehor-Linwood has Central’s full attention. And the Mustangs couldn’t ask for a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving week than with a trophy presentation.
“Somebody said to me earlier, ‘We want you to be around your family for Thanksgiving.’ It was at a team dinner,” Sandbo said following the Great Bend game. “I said, ‘This is our family,’ and my wife and my kids, they understand that.”
“We love these guys, we love this team, and I couldn’t pick a better break than to be around these guys playing some football.”
Delgado, the Mustangs’ leading tackler, agreed wholeheartedly.
“I couldn’t even complain,” Delgado said. “I love Thanksgiving, I love food, but man, I also love these guys.”
_ _ _
Photo courtesy of Tanner Colvin
