PREVIEW: Pawnee City looking to build on last seasons success in 2022

Pawnee City - The Indians of Pawnee City had a historic season a year ago and are hoping to translate that into 2022.

Head coach Scott Brumaugh talked about his group ahead of the season.

“We returned there older kids that started and did well, we’ve got a couple of juniors sliding in, they had playing time because they did well,” Brumbaugh said. “We’re excited to see them, but it’ll be a test for us because out of six kids on the field we’ll have about four new starters.”

The Indians were one of the biggest surprises in Class D-2 last year. Brumbaugh wants that to be both a foundation and a stepping stone for his group going into this year.

“We broke an 0-22 losing streak, picked up a win, then got three wins, then a playoff berth and the kids built on that last year,” Brumbaugh said. “That’s what we talked about this year, instead of just one win, we want to turn that into something special and see what happens.”

Hunter Johnson is a senior wide receiver and D-Lineman. He hopes to make an impact on both sides of the ball, and he knows what it takes to be successful in six-man football.

“Your defense and offense needs to be spot on,” Johnson said. “Even with the slightest gap, they can take that and really open the field up and spread it out. If that field gets spread out, it’s just a ton of running and trying to get caught back up.”

Because of that, preseason practices for Pawnee City have been conditioning-intensive.

“This year, we’re looking at maybe eight kids deep and then we’re out of upper classmen,” Brumbaugh said. “Then we may have to put a freshman on the field, so we need to get these kids in shape to the point in which we don’t put a freshman out there to get himself in a bad spot because they’re not very experienced right now and we need to give them time to learn what’s going on.”

Runningback Andy Maloley is coming off a monster 2021 season where he ran for nearly 1400 yards. This offseason he’s added about 30 pounds and has a few games circled on his calendar.

“We want that 8-0, but we really want to beat Parkview [Christian] this year and see what Franklin gives us,” Maloley said. “I think that’ll be a good game.”

Johnson wants overall team success this season, but also has some personal accolades he’s pursuing, along with the growth of his own game.

“Goals for me is just to get better and maybe even be recognized as one of upper level players in the state or our district,” Johnson said.

The Indians begins their season on Thursday, September 1, when they welcome Franklin.