Carmichaels counting on stacked reps leading to stacked wins

By: Ted Sarneso
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 | 6:01 AM

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Carmichaels coach Ryan Krull has long since thrown his crystal ball to the ground, shattering it into pieces.

“I thought I had a good feel for our team a couple years ago and where we would be once the season started and I couldn’t be more wrong,” Krull said.

Krull was referencing his 2023 team, when he really liked what he saw from his team in camp preparing for the season but finished 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the Tri-County South Conference.

“After that, I was done trying to gauge or predict how we’re going to be,” Krull said.

Instead, Krull is taking a similar approach to last year, making sure his team practices and trains the right way and let the chips fall where they will on Friday nights.

“We’re not going to get too caught up in wins and losses,” Krull said. “We’ve had games where we won, but I watched the film and we did a lot of things wrong. Then there were times we did everything right but still lost.

“I can’t get mad at our guys if they did everything we asked them to do and we lose because the opposing team had some guys with out-of-this-world talent. We’re going to be detailed as a team, stack our reps and I can bet that more often than not, the scoreboard will take care of itself.”

It all begins with challenging the players.

“It does not matter their situation, circumstances, height, weight, age,” said Krull. “They need to throw that out the door and give us the three things we ask of them: great effort, focus and collision toughness. If they do those things on a consistent basis in practice, it will translate into the game.”

It certainly translated last year, when the Mighty Mikes finished 5-3 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

“I definitely thought our group was better from a physical standpoint, much better than the year prior,” Krull said. “It goes against human nature to strap something to your helmet and run into another human being, but our players stepped up and I give them credit.”

As it always has been with Krull, Carmichaels’ physicality starts up front with the offensive line.

Of the 11 seniors who graduated last year, the Mikes lost three starters along the O-line, including all-conference players Bradely Schoenfeldt and Jacob Deems.

“Brad was a standout for us at 6-3 and 285 pounds,” said Krull. “He would just line up and knock guys here, there and everywhere. We don’t have a guy like that this year, so we’re relying on group effort and they understand that’s the expectation.”

Thus far in camp, Krull is happy with the way his line is communicating and figuring things out amongst themselves.

“We’re not going to be right behind them in game situations, so it’s very important that the converse among themselves and adjust on the fly,” he said. “We’re excited and optimistic about this group.”

Seniors Maddix Connelly (6-3, 355) and Andrew Tasker (6-0, 215) lead the way for Carmichaels and will be joined by juniors Elan Caldwell, Cole Jackson and Aiden Henderson as well as sophomores Tristan Miller, Jordan Davis, Chance Schoenfeldt and Jason Baer.

Freshmen Nathan Glendening and Ryker Russo provide more depth at the position.

“Some guy told me a while ago that you’re going to lose kids you can’t afford to lose to injury or whatever,” said Krull. “That’s always been the case, so it’s good to have depth along the line and hopefully it will save us in some cases.”

Krull likes the effort those 11 have brought, believes they’re all trending in the right direction and any mix of the five could start.

Whoever does start up front, they will provide protection for senior Cannon Bupka. It’s the first time in a long time that Krull has had the same quarterback in back-to-back seasons.

“There’s been years in the past when we didn’t know what we were getting, especially with guys who are taking snaps and haven’t done so before,” Krull said. “It’s nice to have a guy who has performed and shown he can do the job.”

At 6-3, 195, Bupka has a presence that the Mikes haven’t had at the position. Quarterbacks like Kevin Kelly and Jonathan Christopher were able to run, but were only 5-9 or 5-10.

“Cannon is very athletic and has the physical gifts, that if they translate on the field with his mental capacity and how he carries himself, he’ll be an exceptional player and that’s the expectation,” Krull said.

Last year, Bupka completed 33 of 52 passes for 371 yards and six touchdowns. He will look to top those numbers, but the Mighty Mikes offense begins and ends with the running game.

Leading rusher senior Will Murray returns as the starting tailback again this season. He finished with 428 yards on 63 carries with six touchdowns.

“He controls his own destiny,” Krul said. “He has great physical talent, but this is our strongest skill position in terms of depth, and all of them are worthy of getting touches.”

Senior Gage Kundly, junior Stephen Lewis and sophomore KC Shook all figure to share the load with Murray and Bupka to grind opposing defenses down.

“We expect them all to contribute, but we’ve had the conversation that if any one of them become a nightmare against a defense on a certain night, we will continue to feed the hot hand,” Krull said.

All of those running backs will also be a part of the passing game, as the Mikes have only five total receivers on the roster.

Defensively, the Mikes will look to build upon the gains they made last season in allowing only 17 points per game.

“The guy that called the defense, Coty Allen, is no longer with us,” said Krull. “He did a great job with those guys last year, left no stone unturned as far as preparation. Our guys were fundamentally sound.”

A good number of players from last year’s defense are gone, including Bradley Schoenfeldt, Deems and other all-conference players in Parker Hewitt and Robbie Wilson-Jones.

But there’s still talent and enough collision toughness returning.

All-conference players Lewis and Kundly will join Bupka and Murray to provide leadership in both the secondary and linebacking corps.

The line will employ the same rotation of players from the offensive side of the ball, and Krull said that Caldwell will be a guy they look to lean on up front.

“He can be a really productive player for us,” Krull said. “He won’t be the only one. The expectation is to get to the football, sprint to the football and work as a unit.”

The Tri-County Conference won’t be an easy one to navigate, but Krull knows if his team does what’s asked of them in practice and “stacks their reps” it should be another solid season for the Mikes.

“California and Jefferson-Morgan were the two best in the conference and until that’s proven otherwise, I think it stays there,” he said. “Now, that doesn’t mean we disregard everyone else. Bentworth should be a nice team this year, Beth-Center has a great running back and I’m sure they’ll be significantly improved.

“We’ll have our work cut out for us week in and week out. We’ll see how we fare in our two nonconference games to open the season and see if it springboards us into conference play.”

Carmichaels

Coach: Ryan Krull

2024 record: 5-3, 4-3 in Class A Tri-County South Conference

All-time record: 521-392-48

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.29 Sto-Rox, 7

9.5 at Frazier, 7

9.12 at Beth-Center*, 7

9.19 at Jefferson-Morgan*, 7

9.26 Bentworth*, 7

10.3 California*, 7

10.10 at Avella*, 7

10.17 at West Greene*, 7

10.24 Mapletown*, 7

*Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Cannon Bupka

33-52, 371 yards, 6 TDs

Rushing: Bupka

83-638 yards, 4 TDs

Receiving: Brandon Yekel*

21-279 yards, 4 TDs

*Graduated

FAST FACTS

• The Mikes were very mighty on the defensive side of the ball last season, allowing opponents to score just 136 points on the year.

• In their five wins last year, the Mikes gave up just 29 points — 20 in a 50-20 trouncing of Frazier in Week 2 and six points each to Avella, West Greene and Mapletown in the final three weeks of the year.

• Carmichaels missed the playoffs by a game last year and last made the postseason in 2022, where it suffered a 53-8 first-round loss to Laurel.

Tags: Carmichaels