MANHATTAN (KSNT) – All eyes are on the reigning 6A state champs.
Manhattan football enters this upcoming season with some pressure on their shoulders after winning the 2026 6A state championship in shutout fashion.
With success comes pressure, but this program doesn’t shy away from it, as reaching that level of success each season is a standard within this program.
“You can’t look too far ahead and you got to control what you can control,” Manhattan football head coach Joe Schartz told 27 Sports. “You know, we’re one day at a time one practice at a time, you know, next week’s game week, so our goal is to go 1-0, and you keep stacking those good days upon each other and, you know, ultimately you have a good chance of reaching your goal.”
After losing key seniors from last season’s squad, this year’s seniors are stepping up to fill those shoes and help lead this program to success.
“Honestly, I think the pressure is more or less not coming from that, but just to be great and live up to expectations that is already set here in Manhattan,” Senior defensive back Joseph Mortensen said. “So I think Coach Schwartz is doing really well, and we’re not think about going to state we’re thinking about trying to be great each and every week.”
“My four years here, I know the feeling of losing the game before state, losing state and winning it, so we’re taking all those emotions,” Senior running back EJ Massenburg told 27 Sports. “We know winning state is the best feeling of it all. We use those emotions to drive us even more.”
Manhattan kicks off its season on Sept. 4 at Rockhurst. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
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