By DUSTIN ARMBRUSTER
Hays Post Sports
HAYS - The 2024 football season for Hays High ended with the program's first ever appearance in the state championship game. The loss in that finale did nothing to damper the expectations looking forward. Head coach Tony Crough knows the experience will pay off for his team. "I don't know that our kids feel a whole lot different about it. That doesn't mean you get to go in and make it back to the state championship game every year. But, it just feels like they are lot more settled in with what it looked like and how to operate."
Crough (45-28) enters his eighth year at the helm.
Mother Nature decided day number one of the football season would end with a cancelled practice. The following morning at 6:00 a.m. the team held their first practice on the turf at the brand new high school.
106 players donned helmets for a Indian team that returns most of the pieces from the prior year's running game. "With that offensive line coming back, that's always the staple of a good offense. Of course we are really talented in the backfield with Holden (Lind) and bringing in some new guys. But, being stable up front, having those guys that know what to do...it looks natural, looks normal, and they look comfortable."
Much of the focus on the offensive line lands on sophomore Gus Corsair. He landed a number of Power Five offers during the offseason.
Hays used a tough regular season in 2024 to ready themselves for a magical postseason run. That schedule gets even tougher in 2025.
The Indians traveled to Arvada, Colorado last year to face the Wheatridge Farmers. Wheatridge won't be making the return trip which left Hays High in search of a new opponent for week two of the season and the first varsity football game held at the new Hays High School. That opponent will be Choctaw, Oklahoma. The Yellowjackets are the 6A-II defending state champions, winning their last ten games in 2024.
The Indians' first eight opponents went a combined 63-24 last season. Only one of the schools had a final record under .500. They will travel to Derby to open the season with the Panthers on September 5th.