By Reagan Hoverman

The phrase "rebuilding season" doesn't appear to be in Ellsworth head coach Rob Heller's vocabulary.

After losing significant portions of both the starting ouense and defense to graduation, it appeared that the Panthers were heading for a season of rebuilding after playing in a state championship game last November in Madison.

However, oach Heller and the Panthers look to have another successful season in 2022, which began with a 52-0 victory in the season-opening home game against the Arcadia Raiders on Friday, Aug. 19. Although personnel is diuerent, the Panthers' ouense continues to look explosive.

Ellsworth's first scoring opportunity came approximately five minutes into the first quarter. That's when the Panthers' defense forced a fumble, which senior defensive lineman Sam Allyn scooped up and returned down in- side the Arcadia five-yard line.

Ellsworth dialed up a couple of runs for senior running back Jurrell Gooden who blasted into the endzone. A successful twopoint conversion gave the Panthers an early 8-0 lead. On the ensuing possession, the Ellsworth defense forced a three-and-out punt and got the ball back around the Arcadia 41yard line.

A couple of plays later, Ellsworth senior quarterback Kaden Grau connected with senior wide receiver Lance Gipford for a 22-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 in favor of the Panthers. Ellsworth's defense forced another punt which led to a Panther ouensive drive starting at the 35-yard line.

Heller's squad marched methodically down the field and capped the drive ou with another Gooden touchdown run to make it 20-0 for Ellsworth with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

See ELLSWORTH FB, Page B-5

Ellsworth senior running back Bo Hines delivers a stiff arm to an Arcadia defender during one of his team-high 11 carries for 158 yards in the 52-0 victory against Arcadia on Friday, Aug. 19, in Ellsworth. Photo by Reagan Hoverman

A litany of Ellsworth defenders come together to bring Arcadia senior running back Cam Boland to the ground. The Panthers’ defense shined on Friday night, as they allowed less than 75 total yards from scrimmage against the Raiders. Photo by Reagan Hoverman Ellsworth FB

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The ouensively potent first quarter turned even more explosive in the second frame, as Ellsworth scored an additional 32 unanswered points and put the game away. Notable scores include Hines breaking free on a 48-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the second quarter to make it 26-0.

After a Hines interception on the defensive side of the ball, Grau launched a ball downfield to junior wide receiver Jakob McCabe who hauled in the pass and careened into the endzone for a nearly 50-yard touchdown to make it 34-0.

By the time halftime rolled around, Ellsworth was up 52-0 and had dominated Arcadia in every facet of the game – ouense, defense and special teams. During the halftime break, the sky began to get dark and the weather forecast showed storms and heaving rain approaching Ellsworth.

That’s when Arcadia head coach Derek Updike approached the referees and spoke about ending the game early, as he cited having an extremely young roster and the inclement weather approaching the area. Essentially, Updike elected to concede and avoid the storm. Coach Heller spoke about the victory after the game was ovcially called.

“He told me they had a young team and they didn’t want to come out in the second half, we wanted to get some young guys some reps,” Heller said. “There are some young guys that would have loved to play under the lights. We were going to put in our young guys.”

While there were only 24 game minutes played on Friday night in the season opener, the Panthers’ ouensive and defensive lines stood out as the dominant units on the field, as both returned four of five starters from last season’s state championship-caliber team.

“Collectively it was a great euort from the ouense. We’ve got to take care of the ball a little better, but the ouensive line is our bell cow this year, a lot of experience and camaraderie there,” Heller said. “I was super impressed with our defensive line. Those guys controlled the line of scrimmage and got a good push and never let those guys get comfortable. That’s a big reason we had success tonight.”

Hines’ ability to get shifty and make defenders miss, paired with the strength of the returning ouensive line, led to 11 carries for 158 yards and a touchdown for Hines in that first half. Ellsworth tallied 317 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground against Arcadia.

“We have that returning ouensive line and that is a huge part of it,” Hines said after the win. “Even in our scrimmage, we had holes where I wasn’t even getting touched. Everything goes to our ouensive line, they make it happen for sure.”

That ouensive line also helped protect the aforementioned Grau, who tallied 89 passing yards and two touchdowns on only five attempts. Grau has progressed a long way even in the first couple of weeks of the season, according to Heller. “We’ve been impressed with Kaden (Grau),” Heller said. “He made some big strides today, hit some passes he was struggling with earlier in the year. He’s learning and being coachable and he had a good night tonight.”

Although so many valuable players were lost to graduation last season, Ellsworth remains – at least in the early goings – a tough team to play, even without some of the most noted players in program history like Jack Janke, Max Grand and Ashten Quade. Heller spoke about how culture has built the Ellsworth football program.

“One of the words we’ve been trying to grow up here for a long time is tradition,” Heller said. “Normally we’re a wrestling school and now we’re kind of a football school and that’s kind of fun. The kids and community are getting behind it and embracing that Ellsworth football is going to be a tough out. I’m proud of the kids for keeping it up after the last two seasons.”

Ellsworth’s week two game is a non-conference matchup against the New Richmond Tigers, a team firmly planted in the Division 2 bracket that is much larger than Ellsworth. That game is on Friday, Aug. 26, at New Richmond. That game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.