Expectations even higher for Bluejays
Tabor football team projected runner-up to Kansas Wesleyan
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
If Bluejay coach Tim McCarty and his team thought the heat was on Tabor to start the season last year, they spent the summer in front of the air conditioner.
Fresh off its best season in 24 years at 6-4 overall and in a five-way logjam for third in the league, Tabor will really feel the pressure cooker being turned up even higher this year.
For the first time in school history, Tabor has been projected to have its best season ever, beginning 2003 picked to finish second in the evenly matched conference.
The Bluejays were chosen Friday at the KCAC media day in Salina by both the media and KCAC coaches to finish runner-up to the two-time defending champion Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes.
The Coyotes welcome back 10 starters on defense and eight on offense from a team that was bounced out in the first round of the NAIA Tournament by the semifinalist Sioux Falls, SD Cougars.
In the coaches' poll, the Coyotes edged the Bluejays for first place votes by a narrow 96-91 margin.
The media poll had KWU beating Tabor, 162-14 with the Coyotes winning 10 of 16 first-place votes and six of 10 from the coaches.
The Bluejays earned four first place votes by the coaches and five from the media.
Tabor welcomes back all eleven of its starters from offense and eight on a defense that ranked second in the NAIA.
The Bluejays will also field a team loaded with experience from 27 seniors, many of them four-year starters.
"Overall, if our seniors win three games this year, they will be the all time winningest class in school history," said McCarty. "Obviously, their overall goal is a little bit bigger than that.
"Tabor has never won a KCAC championship, they would like to be becoming something like that. We've got to be a better coached team and a better executing team, we've got to stay focused and we've got stay healthy."
The Bethany Swedes were picked in both polls to finish third.
Southwestern was tabbed fourth in the coaches' poll with the Friends Falcons.
The media flipped the two around, leaving both polls the same the remainder of the way.
The McPherson Bulldogs were slated sixth followed by Ottawa in seventh.
St. Mary was picked eight with Bethel and Sterling respectively tabbed ninth and 10th.
"The (KCAC) conference has raised the stakes," McCarty said. "Every coach in our conference has done a great job recruiting and they've brought a very high level of competition.
"Week-in and week-out, you're going to see big games throughout the season. I think you're going to see a very top-heavy conference this year."
Tabor's season kicks off Sept. 13 when it travels to Waxahatchie, Texas, to face Southwest Assemblies of God, a team Tabor drubbed last year, 44-2.
