By Brant Daughtry
Great Bend Post Sports
Week one in the high school ranks usually seems to be sluggish. Teams aren’t quite firing on all cylinders yet, and need a week or so to get used to full-speed competition. That was not the case for the Great Bend Panthers, who managed to put up 47 points in week 1 against a Scott City team known for strong defense.
Junior running back and linebacker Cal Schartz said getting in the weight room and strong leadership was a big factor in the Panthers being ready to go, mentally and physically.
"Part of that physicality is, all summer, hitting the weight room. I mean, that is a big part of it. Squats every week. And not just that; after practice, doing stuff on your own at home. I think something that helped a lot was Maxon Smiley (new starting quarterback) when he first came into town, every single day he would ask to go throw footballs. And that leadership aspect really pushed us, I think, to the next level."
It's not just lineman though, Great Bend's scheme requires everyone to chip in, including pass catchers. Junior receiver Alec Premer mentioned how the weight room has allowed him to be more active in the physical side of the game.
"You just have to like, have faith. Believe that you can. Be confident, try to mirror them. Then once you get latched on, just try and drive them. Get them to the ground or just keep pushing them in if it's an outside run or if it's inside try to get them to the sideline. And then the strength room obviously helps, getting stronger, faster. Last year I struggled a lot more blocking, so say they were in man, I'd run an outside release go route, just hoping they'd chase me so I wouldn't have to block as much, but this year it's a lot easier for me to block them."
Great Bend faces off against McPherson Fright night at home, with coverage of the game available on B104.3 The Point, and GreatBendPost.com