By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Things have been trending in the right direction for Brett Stindt's Ellinwood High School football team. The Eagles posted a 2-25 record in the three seasons before Stindt took over the program in 2022. Ellinwood won three games that season, finished last year at 4-5 overall, and has started the 2024 season with a pair of easy wins.
"The seniors last year, I think that's the group that really started this," said Stindt. "I told them all year last year, whatever happens in the future, it's going to be with this group. Them going 4-5 last year was a huge step."
Last year, the Eagles opened the season at 3-0 for the first time since 1986. Craig Schneider coached Ellinwood to a 26-10 record from 1983-86 with three 3-0 starts in those four seasons. The 1986 defense shut out four of its first six opponents.
This year's Eagle squad opened the season with a 32-0 win against Syracuse, then blanked Herington 47-0 in week two. No Ellinwood squad has opened a season with back-to-back shutouts since Robert Shandy's 1978 team opened the season with shutout wins against Lyons and Ellsworth.
"We try to work on defense as much as possible," Stindt said. "A lot of credit goes to our scout team. When they show up during the week, it makes their lives just a little bit better. Overall, we've been able to rotate kids in and get new kids out there, young kids. Just this last game, I think we actually had 18 kids make a tackle in the game. That's huge."
The 1979 Eagles shutout four opponents to open the season but only after losing to Lyons 20-18 in week one. Jack Bowman's 1966 team outscored its first seven opponents 200-7 and shutout seven of nine offenses it saw to finish the season at 8-1. Jason Duvall's 2015 Eagle team blanked two of its first three opponents but Victoria spoiled the fun with a 38-12 in week two. Sterling similarly ruined a perfect start that included two shutouts with a 12-6 win in week two of the 2003 season under Monte Doll and Bill Maddy.
Senior Landon Simpson and sophomore Nick Miller lead this year's defense with 10 tackles each, and senior Tavian McCaffery and junior Austin Brack have combined for 15 more. Simpson has also picked off three passes.
Ellinwood will look to continue its win and shutout streaks Friday at Stanton County. Kansashsfootballhistory.com tracks the football team's history dating back to 1949. No Eagle team since 1949 has shutout its first three opponents.