Tonganoxie High football coach Mark Elston knows appearances can be deceiving.

That’s why he’s preaching caution prior to the Kaw Valley League game against Leavenworth Immaculata tonight at Tongie.

The Raiders may be 0-3, but that’s nothing. Last year they started 1-5, but made it to the Class 3A semifinals, finishing 6-6.

“We know darned well 0-3 doesn’t mean a thing,” Elston said. “It only takes one or two games to get back on track. We’ve got to be very leery of them.”

Kickoff will be 7 p.m. at the THS field. Sunflower Broadband will show a tape-delay telecast at 10:30 p.m. on its channel 6.

With the Chieftains at 2-1 and coming off a 31-6 trouncing of DeSoto, Elston worries about overconfidence, execution and, especially, Immaculata’s skill players. The Raiders’ roster isn’t large, but Elston said their quarterback, running back and wide receivers are all young, fast and extremely familiar with each other.

“The advantage of being a small team is you’ve got players who get a tremendous amount of repetitions,” he said.

Tongie solved those problems last year, handing Immaculata a 22-8 loss. To do the same this season, Elston’s squad will have to mimic its defensive performance last week.

The Chieftains limited DeSoto to just eight net yards rushing, while All-Kaw Valley League running back Michael Allen had just 43 yards on 22 carries.

On offense, Tongie struggled early against DeSoto, but poured it on by the end. Five different players scored touchdowns, and he’s hopeful that production materializes again this week.

“The biggest thing on offense is we’ve gotten some consistency and some confidence,” Elston said.

“We have to be patient, because Immaculata does like to keep seven, eight, nine men in the box.”