21 September 2023
GODDARD, Kan. (KSNW) — We have an awesome matchup for the fourth Game of the Week of the high school football season between two top-five ranked teams in #3(4A) Andover Central and #4(5A) Goddard-Eisenhower.
The Eisenhower Tigers have been off to a hot start, especially on defense. In three games, they’ve only allowed one team to score more than 7 points. The offense might be more of a challenge against a tough Jaguars unit. But that isn’t killing the confidence of a talented Tigers team.
“They’re a lot like Salina Central defensively,” said Tigers’ senior wide receiver Chase George. “I feel like we can attack those gaps and attack their DBs, so we have a really good chance against them.”
When we spoke to the team during our season previews, head coach Darrin Fisher was preaching to the team about finishing games strong. It’s a focus that has worked so far.
“We keep track of it,” says Fisher. “It’s one of our goals that the guys wanted to set, win the fourth quarter. And so far in the last three games, we’ve outscored the opponent in the 4th quarter. They’re always good, they’re well-coached. Those guys play hard. Coach Tuttle does a great job with his football team over there in Andover Central, so I’m expecting a tough, hard battle Friday night.”
Ike has already won as many games this season as they did a year ago, but they’re nowhere close to where they want to go.
“I feel like the mindset this year,” explained Tigers’ senior linebacker Max Brown. “We came in with a different mindset of having a culture, we really put a big emphasis on culture this year and keeping the intensity up at practices.”
As for the Andover Central Jaguars, the 2021 4A state champs are looking like they might be cut from the same cloth this season with wins over Buhler, Maize High, and Arkansas City.
“I feel like we kind of slacked off against Ark City,” said Jags’ junior quarterback, Jace Jefferson. “But I feel like if we have more intensity and keep playing like we’ve been playing, we’ll be just fine.”
However, this week is setting up to be the team’s toughest challenge yet.
“I think they’re a pretty deep team,” explained Andover Central Head Coach, Derek Tuttle. “I think that shows in the platooning they’re doing on both sides of the ball. They have a lot of playmakers. The [Lucas] Dyckman kid for a number of years has been an outstanding return guy. He has a lot of speed. Their quarterback is one of the kids who has come up through the program and developed really well in the last couple of years in their JV system. They’re a very well-coached, well-rounded team.”
But, it’s one the players are looking forward to.
“I think we’re going to have to play hard off the ball,” added Jags’ senior defensive lineman, Kyle Newsom. “Just really really fast and physical because they are a little smaller along the O-Line compared to other teams, but they’re a little bit faster as well. So we have to take into consideration that they’re going to be off the ball sooner than usual opponents and we just need to be ready and aware of what’s going on so we can adapt to that and do our job.”