Huskies hungry to get back on winning track
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The taste of a 3-6 football season that ended a streak of 19 consecutive playoff appearances didn’t sit well this off-season with a group of seniors which Husky coach Kyle Peterson says is now anxious to take the field and get Aurora back to its winning ways.
“We have a football team that is really hungry,” Peterson said during the first week of fall camp. “We have a football team, especially this group of seniors, that was disappointed in how things played out last year. You saw it in our preparation in the weight room. You saw it in our preparation with some of fall camp stuff here early where there’s a focus and attention to detail that I haven’t necessarily seen in a couple of years. Let’s hope that pays dividends for us this year.”
That attention to detail, the veteran coach observed, could be the difference between winning and losing close games, especially looking at a schedule that features eight teams that are either playoff teams from a year ago or preseason ranked in 2025, including the Class C1 state champion (Wahoo) and runner-up (Central City).
“The win-loss record wasn’t what we expected last year,” he said. “In a lot of cases we played good football, but we just weren’t able to play enough good football to beat some really good teams on our schedule. We have the same great teams on our schedule this year, but we also have a football team with a lot of experience, a lot of guys who played a lot of minutes for us a year go. I think these kids understand what it takes to be successful and they understand what good football is supposed to look like. We just need to be a lot more consistent.”
Looking at this year’s 63-man roster before Friday’s sports drink scrimmage, which begins at 6 p.m., Peterson noted that the 10 seniors, who will be joined this year by two foreign exchange students, are all going to find the field in different ways.
“That’s a class that has had a lot of success,” he said. “They were really good in middle school and they know how to win. They expect to win and although they are small in numbers, there’s a lot of talent in that group.”
One senior who Peterson said stands out as a dynamic go-to player is Canon Allen, who is listed as a wide receiver/defensive back. Allen spent some time under center in a backup role last year, though the quarterback conversation changed during the offseason with the arrival of junior Wyatt Pollett, who transferred from Sutton.
“When you look at the quarterback position, Canon is a senior, Wyatt Pollett is a junior and Sam Jones, a sophomore, is playing really good football for us right now as well,” Peterson said. “Wyatt is a really good athlete, a kid who played a lot of football at Sutton the last couple years, so coming from eight man there is always a little bit of a learning curve there. But you know, at this point, he’s doing really well and he’s very much in the quarterback conversation for us.”
Jones reported to camp 30 pounds heavier than a year ago and the head Husky said the young gun has a bright future ahead of him at QB.
“So it’s a three-headed race right now,” he added. “We’ll see how that kind of plays out.”
Getting Allen touches of the football, from whatever position, will be a key to the Husky offense, Peterson added. As a junior, Allen was the team’s leading receiver with 41 catches for 700 yards and four touchdowns, despite missing some time with an injury. He also ran for 77 yards and five touchdowns.
“Everybody knows that we want the ball in Canon’s hands,” he emphasized, “whether that’s him playing quarterback or if that’s him catching the ball or maybe playing in the backfield for us, which he might have that opportunity from time to time. We also have a lot of other guys that we want to get the ball to as well and it will be interesting to see how we can distribute all those different touches out. I would say we haven’t discovered our identity yet and I think that we will find that here in the next couple of weeks.”
By the end of last season, Ian Jensen had emerged as a reliable running back for the Huskies and the senior will have some company in the backfield this fall. He finished with 200 yards on 44 carries, with four TDs.
“Ian has put on a little weight,” the coach observed. “He’s still kind of a little guy (listed at 140 pounds), but you know he’s electric when he’s in space and so he’s a kid that obviously plays into our backfield conversation.”
Among those seeking touches will be Collin Stolpe, junior Ryan Gilliland along with sophomores Brody Epp-Nelson and Cooper Hudson.
“We have some bigger back options, some 200 to 220 pound guys there as well,” Peterson said. “We have a lot of guys that we trust to be able to carry the ball, where a year ago I think we were probably pretty limited in the number of kids that were going to get touches. Those kids had a year to grow and work in the weight room, so that just prepares them for the type of varsity schedule we’re going to have this fall.”
When the Huskies look to go to the air, whoever is throwing the ball will have a lot of targets to work with.
“We have a lot of seniors that play into our receiving core,” Peterson said. “Kind of our top group right now includes Ryan Staehr, Brett Mellies, Garrett Kuehner, as well as juniors Kash Kleinschmidt, Henry Christensen and Landon Danhauer. All are guys who caught a lot of footballs for us in seven-on-seven, so there’s going to be a role for all of them in some way this fall, whether it be as a backup or a guy that’s kind of a primary receiver for us.”
Up front in the trenches, the Husky O-line will be bigger and stronger this year, Peterson observed, with players on average bringing 20 or pounds more per man than last year’s starting line. That group has a strong group of contenders including Jayden Smith, Kayden Crosby, Angelo Holke, Gabe Gibson, Tucker Theriot, Jake Molliconi, Ryan Carlson and Alex Wolf.
As for the special teams unit, Garrett Kuehner has booted his way into a likely starting role as both kickoff and PAT specialist, though there are others competing for the job as well, including Pollett, Allen, and Eli Grosshans, a promising freshman who Peterson said rarely missed an extra point in middle school football.
Defense
When the defense takes the field, Peterson said the 2025 Huskies hope to be more physical, a style of play that begins with hard work in the weight room.
“We’re a little bigger than we were a year ago up front,” he said. “One of the reasons we moved Jayden Smith from running back to the line is he went from about 230 to 270, so he’s probably going to be in the middle of our defense. And we have some other guys in that senior class with Angelo Holke and Kayden Crosby that are 230 to 240 pound kids. We also really like our junior class alignment with guys like Jake Molliconi, Ryan Carlson and Alex Wolf as guys that are way over 200 pounds who are going to give us a lot of depth and maybe fill starting positions for us in the defensive or offensive line.”
Tucker Theriot moved to Aurora from New Orleans a year ago, and now with a year of experience and another 30 pounds on his frame looks to see some time at linebacker, along with Russell, Hudson Decker and Kuehner.
“Garrett (Kuehner) can also play safety for us as well as outside linebacker, so those are probably the guys who are going to get the majority of our first group reps,” the coach said.
Four Huskies have earned some time on the field at the inside linebacker spot, the coach mentioned, including Stolpe, a three-year starter and last year’s leading tackler, Gilliland, who started several games last year before he was injured, Hudson and senior Gavin Logue.
When asked to preview the defensive backfield, Peterson said this year’s team has some depth and experience, with guys like Allen, Staehr, Kleinschmidt, Mellies as well as Danhauer and Christensen.
Peterson shares more preseason thoughts in this week’s ANR fall sports preview, which will also feature team photos and coaches comments of all the Aurora, Giltner and High Plains teams, as well as Hampton football and H&H volleyball.
