By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2022 season Sept. 1-3.
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For the first time since 1929 Hayden will not have a city school on its football schedule this fall.
But there's plenty of marquee matchups that are sure to pique fans' interest, including three straight to open the 2022 season.
Bill Arnold, who is beginning his 16th season at Hayden, is counting on a new-look schedule to get the Wildcats ready to make a deep run in the Class 3A playoffs this fall. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden, coming off an 8-2 campaign, will host two-time defending Class 1A champion Olpe in its season-opener on Sept. 2 before traveling to eight-time 3A champ Silver Lake on Sept. 9 and hosting two-time defending 2A champ Rossville on Sept. 16.
Hayden will be facing Olpe for the first time in school history and while the Wildcats have faced Rossville and Silver Lake on multiple occasions, Hayden hasn't played Rossville since 1937 and Silver Lake since 1944.
"Those are going to be very good games and very good competition and I think it's a great opportunity,'' Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. "No. 1, it's a little bit closer to our classification and No. 2, those are storied programs in recent times.
"Those teams know how to win, they know how to compete and that's what you want.''
Since Hayden dropped to 3A in 2018 the Wildcats have been unable to play a full Centennial League schedule against 6A and 5A competition and Arnold said playing top-notch small-school programs like Olpe, Silver Lake and Rossville is a good alternative.
"Realistically, if you can't compete with Junction City and Manhattan (both 6A schools), to where you're getting better, then this is the next best thing,'' Arnold said.
Hayden will build this year's team around 27 returning lettermen, seven starters on both sides of the ball and 15 seniors.
Notre Dame commit Joe Otting (65) and Jensen Schrickel (9) are among the top returners for Hayden, which is coming off an 8-2 season last fall. [File photo/TSN]
Topping the list of returners are seniors Joe Otting (6-foot-4, 275-pound guard/defensive end), Ben Evans (6-3, 270 offensive and defensive tackle) and JC Cummings (5-11, 210 fullback/inside linebacker), who all earned TopSports.news All-Shawnee County honors last season.
Otting, who has orally commited to Notre Dame, was a Top 22 all-county pick a year ago while Evans and Cummings earned honorable mention.
Other top returners include seniors Ethan Florence (5-10, 160 running back) and Jameson Kennedy (5-10, 175 free safety), juniors Drew Crady (5-9, 190 fullback), Carter Charvat (6-2, 225 center) and Jude Konrade (5-11, 185 linebacker) and sophomore Jensen Schrickel (5-8, 140 wide receiver). Charvat received all-county honorable mention in 2021.
"We've got some skill positions that are going to get filled in with some younger guys, but we've got a core group of these seniors like JC, Ben and Joe, those guys have been starting now for three years.,'' Arnold said.
Arnold, 189-63 as a head coach, is eager to get things started this fall after what he said has been a great offseason/summer for the Wildcats.
"It's been a good group,'' said Arnold, who is starting his 16th season at Hayden. "We've done a lot of work on leadership going all the way back to January and I think that they've risen to the challenge all the way through the process -- January winter weights, the early-morning weights in the month of May, and then summer's been good.''
HAYDEN
2022 football schedule
September -- 2 Olpe, 9 at Silver Lake, 16 Rossville, 23 Jefferson West, 30 at Perry-Lecompton.
October -- 7 Royal Valley, 14 at Holton, 21 at Hiawatha, 28 Playoffs.
Next up: Highland Park.
