WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)—For our grand finale, we have arguably the best rivalry over the past couple of seasons, with the Cheney Cardinals traveling to take on the Andale Indians.
The Cardinals are fresh off an upset win in the regional round against Wichita Collegiate. Now, they are ready to take on the undefeated Indians and prove that the two wins against Andale last season weren’t a fluke.
“We had two great games last year. You know, they’re a good football team. You know, they’re going to come to hit. So we’ve got to be prepared too. You know, we did it last year, we can do it again. Just got to play our game, you know, play Cheyney football. Don’t do anything too much. Just, you know, play hard,” said Cheney senior and safety Tred Grusing.
“You know, we want to prove that, you know, this year that we’re capable of going back to state and winning it. I think a key is physicality. We need to come up and hit them on the line. We need to be fast and line up really quick, and that just whoever’s more physical wins that ball game,” said Cheney senior and safety Parker McClellan.
The defending 3A state champs know they have a target on their backs when they take the field this Friday night.
“But we do know that that plays a large part in the getting up for a game because that’s kind of the way we felt about Collegiate when they beat us three weeks ago. And, you know, we wanted another shot. And so then I know they’ve been. I put that on the scout report. They’ve been waiting for 358 days for this game. So, that’s that’s a lot of buildup. And we’re excited to be here, though, and ready to play,” said Cheney head football coach Shelby Wehrman.
Andale has been hoping to finally match up with its neighbor in this year’s playoffs. Andale head coach Dylan Schmidt says his players don’t need much motivation this week.
“I think from the summer, from the very get-go, the commitment, the energy level, you know, guys are bought into what we do and not that we weren’t last year or any year. I mean, that’s always been the case, but I think much more this year than ever. And so you know, I think any time you get beat, you know, there’s a thorn in your side a little bit. And so, hopefully, we’ll continue that,” said Coach Schmidt.
Andale players who spoke to KSN say they can’t wait for kickoff on Friday night.
“I think everyone’s ready to come out to practice every day. And I think- I think everyone’s excited for the whole week, and you’re just sitting in bed at night thinking about the game. You’re at school, all you can think about is the game. And I think every single person on this team is just ready to go,” said Andale senior and linebacker Ian Schrandt.
“We’ve been preparing for it all year. We’ve been looking ahead, and we know exactly what we’re going to do. We know we did a long wrong last year, and everybody’s just ready. And I’ve never seen- the entire team, we’ve put more time in on huddles, and more time on our scouting report and extra stuff than we ever have before. It’s gonna be really exciting,” said Andale senior and tight end Noah Horsch.