Photo by Samantha Davis: The 2025 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton football team includes Braden Morgan, Ty Yackley, Emery Xiong, Carson Lanoue, Myhlez Moua, David Schuh, Samuel Lightfoot, Jackson Kruse, Aiden Sanow, Griffin Zick, Connor Lanoue, Nolan Carlson, Talon Brinkley, Oakley Bornitz, Lawton Verlinde, Nolan Verlinde, Levi Duscher, Christian Fransen, Braeden Connor, Dalton Gilbery, Sy Sanders, Trenton Johnson, Brody Hauger, Ryker Freeburg, Luke Millman, Jack Willhite and Noah Johnson. The Panthers are coached by Ryan Kruse, Alex Greenway and Derek Ashbaugh.

TRACY — The Tracy-Milroy-Balaton football team will be embarking on the 2025 season with a new quarterback and head coach, but will look to continue making strides in the right direction with its young core. 

Ryan Kruse is taking over the program from Jason Kainz, who stepped down after leading the helm for nine seasons. Kruse has been an assistant coach with the football team, and is also the boys basketball coach. 

“I just expect that we work hard, and get better every time out,” Kruse said ahead of the season. “We’re going to play a lot of good teams, so it’s going to be, I think, a battle every week. Just doing the little things to make sure we get those to be wins.” 

The Panthers will also have a new starting quarterback for the first time in four seasons, after Trevor Smith was amongst the five seniors that graduated. 

Last season, Smith threw 177 complete passes of 309 attempts for 2,320 yards, 21 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. He also had a team-high 559 rushing yards on 95 attempts, along with eight touchdowns. On the defensive end, he had 40 tackles and a pair of interceptions. 

“We graduated only five seniors, but some good ones. The nice thing is a lot of guys that are playing this year, or will be playing this year, got some time [last year],” Kruse said. “Whether it was part-time, defense or offense. Most of them have some good experience, and that’s a good, good thing.” 

Junior Aiden Sanow, 6-foot-1, will be the Panthers’ new starting quarterback this season. 

“He’s [Sanow] doing good,” Kruse said. “He had a really good summer. Worked hard in the weight room, like he always has, and is just big and strong. He’s throwing the ball pretty well.”  

Along with Smith, TMB also graduated Taylor Swenhaugen, Noah Knakmuhs, Xavier Trierweiler and Dalton Timmerman. 

Particularly, Knakmuhs finished last season with 507 receiving yards, along with six touchdowns and 15 tackles, and Swenhaugen had 453 receiving yards with a trio of touchdowns with 46 tackles. 

Although the core of seniors the Panthers will move forward without, they still return five experienced seniors who will look to lead the young group this year. 

Specifically, senior-duo Griffin Zick and David Schuh return to the field for one more year after a standout 2024 season. 

Zick, wide receiver and defensive back, led TMB on the receiving end with 57 catches for a team-high 740 yards and nine touchdowns, and also led the Panthers with 60 tackles. 

Schuh, running back and line backer, had 495 rushing yards, only behind Smith, on 85 attempts and seven touchdowns. He also recorded 129 receiving-yards on 27 catches with another two touchdowns, and had a team second-best 51 tackles behind Zick. 

“We would like to play better than we ever have, I know that,” Zick said regarding his approach to the season. “Play as hard as we can for every play.” 

“I think the ball will go through David and Griff a lot, and then Connor [Lanoue] and Emery Xiong are guys that we need to have good years on the outside,” Kruse added. “Up front, Sy Sanders, Lawton Verlinde and Brody Hauger all have good experience from last year, and we need them to be good this year.” 

Xiong and Lanoue had 280 and 190 receiving yards last season, respectively, while Verlinde and Sanders had 31 and 34 tackles. Hauger also tallied 13 tackles. 

TMB will again play with a large mix of freshman and sophomores, but have a strong supporting group with eight juniors to add to its senior group. 

“You kind of want to show them what they got to expect, and how things have to get done,” Zick said regarding how he wants to take on a leadership role this season. “So they can step into your role and hopefully be better.” 

The Panthers went 3-6 overall in 2024, with their season coming to an end with a 51-36 loss to Murray County Central in the Section 3A tournament, who went on to become section runners-up. 

Despite a troubling start to the season, TMB won its final two games of the regular season against St. James Area and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton before heading into the playoffs. 

“[Last year] some of those guys that were playing were so young and inexperienced at different spots, that by the time we got to the end of the season, I thought we were playing pretty good,” Kruse said. “But I think … Just building off of how we ended. We played some pretty good games at the end, and [we want to be] using that to go into our first game here.” 

Although the changes and adjustments TMB will see to start the season, Kruse along with Zick and Schuh all noted that preseason camp has gone well. 

Zick and Schuh agreed with one another saying the team hasn’t felt like they’ve been through significant changes, as everyone has been stepping up to new roles selflessly.   

Kruse said there are no major injuries on the team, and everyone will start the season healthy. 

“I hope to leave on a high note,” Schuh said. “Go have some fun.” 

TMB will open the season at home on Thursday when it hosts MACCRAY at 7 p.m., and will hit the road next Friday to United South Central at the same time.