As if barely falling to Osawatomie – a team routed by Eudora in Week 1 of the high school football season – wasn’t enough, Wellsville now must play that same Eudora team, which hasn’t given up a point in its first two games.

“Right now, we’re just trying to make ourselves get better and that’s what we’re hoping to do,” said Wellsville coach Bill Oshel, whose offense has come up with just 14 points in two games. “Every game is tough for us. We have a lot of young kids, and we just need to keep their spirits up and just keep going. We are obviously going to see a good team every week with the league that we are in. All we want to do is try to control what you can control and just try to keep playing.”

A year ago, the two teams squared off in a defensive battle in the season opener at Eudora. That game wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter with a Cardinal interception inside the red zone to stop an Eagle comeback in a 12-6 contest.

But that was last year. This time around, the Cardinals have a more explosive offense that has racked up 76 points, pitted against a Wellsville defense that has given up 93 points – a number bloated by a 69-point outburst by Louisburg in Week 1.

“This game really scares me,” said Eudora coach Gregg Webb, who will have to contend with the Eagles as part of Homecoming. “They have enough pride and our kids know them all and it’s a rivalry, where you have to throw previous scores out. We were really fortunate to win last year, because we just didn’t have hardly any offense. And their defense always plays well.”

Oshel said the reason for the more aggressive play against the Cardinals is simply because of when they are squaring off in the season.

“I think it’s because we have always played them in a turning point for us in the season – where we’ll see if we can build on wins or will just continue losing,” Oshel said. “This year, if we win or lose, that’s not the most important thing right now. The team has to get better and is really dependent on whether we start doing things we need to do. Because sometimes you can get wins without playing well.”

Webb agreed.

“We’re OK defensively. And offensively, we’ve scored just enough to win games,” Webb said. “But our players haven’t played anywhere close to the potential. We need our offensive line to continue getting better and we are needing to improve there because we are good enough to dominate the line of scrimmage.”