Rosters for the 2025 Kansas Shrine Bowl in Dodge City were announced this week. Chanute’s Cade Small and Humboldt’s Blake Ellis were among the East team selections.
Small, a Swiss Army knife for the Chanute Blue Comets, is the fifth player for Chanute to be selected to the Shrine Bowl since 2020 — Ty Bowman (2020), Kolten LaCrone (2022), Daegan Dean (2023) and Gus Thuston (2024).
“I thought it was awesome. I knew we had a chance to get a guy in, and I thought we had a few that had chances,” Chanute head coach Clete Frazell said. “For Cade to get selected was a very cool deal for him. He’s shown a lot of dedication and it was great to see him get rewarded for that.”
Ellis, the Cubs’ quarterback, is Humboldt’s fifth selection to the Shrine Bowl since 2019 — Dagen Goodner (2019), Josh Hull (2020), Connor Haviland (2020) and Sam Hull (2024).
“It’s obviously exciting,” Humboldt head coach Logan Wyrick said. “We’ll see, positionally, where he’s at. I know he’d love to play quarterback. But it’s nice to have guys that do multiple things and Blake gives a lot of flexibility. He was a running back growing up and started at defensive back as a freshman. He’s been a guy that’s been everywhere on the field in big moments. He punted for us, too. But we’re excited. He’s a two-time captain for us and we like to see good things happen to good kids.”
Small finished his senior campaign at Chanute with 67 tackles, including 12 for a loss, seven sacks, a pair of forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Offensively, Small hauled in 15 catches for 261 yards and notched four total touchdowns.
“He was a hard-nosed player for us that did a lot of dirty work,” Frazell said. “He blocked for us and created havoc on defensive end or linebacker. He’s got a nonstop motor and he’ll be hard to replace. He did a ton of things for us that went unnoticed. He’s physical and tough. He did it all without thinking twice.”
Ellis was a dynamic playmaker for Humboldt, tallying 1,174 yards and 13 touchdowns through the air as well as 1,390 yards and 31 touchdowns on the ground. On defense, Ellis notched a dozen tackles.
“We knew we had a lot coming back and we knew we’d be a different team,” Wyrick said. “Our passing game wasn’t needed as much because we spread the ball around and got up on some teams early. And Blake carried the ball a ton. He’s where our offense flowed through. He did a lot of special things.”
Both Frazell and Wyrick will also be on the sidelines as coaches for the East team at the Shrine Bowl.
“It’s a learning opportunity to learn from the best guys,” Frazell said. “I’ll come back with some new tricks in the bag.”
“For our state, it truly is the pinnacle,” Wyrick said. “When I got asked to coach it, I couldn’t turn it down. You get to the game and you understand what it’s truly about. For Blake, he joins an exclusive group. When you’re in the smaller classifications, to get them with this frequency, it’s pretty cool.”
The 52nd Kansas Shrine Bowl is scheduled for a June 21 kickoff in Dodge City.
KANSAS SHRINE BOWL ROSTERS EAST
Max Armstrong, Olathe South; Jake Brink, Olathe Northwest; Todd Brown, Tonganoxie; Jack Cook, Blue Valley West; Kaleb Dewey, Gardner Edgerton; Aidan Dreiling, St. James Academy; Ayden Ellington, Lansing; Blake Ellis, Humboldt; Caden Estrada, Washburn Rural; Mason Faith, Rock Creek; Jacob Flentie, Centralia; Tevyn Gasaway, Olathe West; Luke Harris, Fort Scott; Jack Hartman, Troy; Brady Haughton, Shawnee Mission East; Brock Heath, Blue Valley Northwest; Conlee Hovey, Louisburg; Cru Huenfeld, St. Thomas Aquinas; Max Huston, Seaman; Teryn Jackson, Bishop Miege; Christian Jarrett, Eudora; Kaden Jordan, Seaman; Jayden Lang, De Soto; Jeremiah Looney, Shawnee Mission North; Tannar McDaniel, Piper; Landon Meyer, Sabetha; Jace Midgett, Columbus; Ashton Moore, Louisburg; Parker Moore, Free State; Scott Moore, Girard; Will Morgan, Blue Valley Southwest; Jacob O’Donnell, Shawnee Mission Northwest; Garrett Pierce, Basehor-Linwood; Bravin Powell, Gardner Edgerton; Howie Rezac, St. Marys; Ashton Schaefer, Marysville; Brandon Schmelzle, Axtell; Jensen Schrickel, Hayden; Abram Shaffer, Mill Valley; Cade Small, Chanute; Eric Smith III, Atchison; Aaron Tunstall, Coffeyville; Jackson Tupps, Wamego; Carter Wilmarth, Wellsville.
Coaches – Garrett Michael, Sabetha (head); Josh Koerkenmeier, Blue Valley West; Jared Swafford, Seaman; Clete Frazell, Chanute; Mike Brerg, Wellsville; Logan Wyrick, Humboldt; Roger Holthaus, Centralia.
WEST
Jace Adler, Andover Central; Jayden Amaro, Dodge City; Carter Aslin, Manhattan; Petren Bartolome, Junction City; Roy Bright Jr., Plainville; Josh Burdick, Cheney; Linkon Cure, Goodland; Catch Delaney, McPherson; Karter Gonzalez, Hesston; Preston Grube, Mulvane; Preston Hagel, Goodland; Landon Harp, Andale; Quavon Harris, Wichita Northwest; Bryson Hayes, Maize; Henry Hecox, Moundridge; Connor Herman, Halstead; Eli Johnson, Beloit; Eli Jones, Norton; Owen Kaiser, Great Bend; Kaeden Kasselman, Garden Plain; Terrell King, Hutchinson; Drayton Knoll, Holcomb; Creyo Koop, West Elk; Cooper Koster, Conway Springs; James MacKinney, Salina Central; Cooper Marx, Andale; Christian McDonald, Maize South; Dalton Meyers, Hays; James Middlebrook, Derby; Ace Monihen, Council Grove; Derek Morgan, Eisenhower; Carter Pabst, Eisenhower; Karlon Ransom, Wichita East; Bodey Redenbaugh, Buhler; Hudson Rice, Liberal; Dawson Rodd, Andover Central; Jackson Rumford, Scott City; Owen Schmidt, Pratt; Steel Schomaker, Valley Center; Tristan Sprole, Wichita Collegiate; Tucker Thaxton, Southeast of Saline; Ja’Marcus Webster, Wichita South; Brody Weir, Wellington; Cooper Williams, Clearwater. Coaches – Dominick Dingle, Wichita Heights (head); Russ Wells, Wichita South; Mike Vernon, Hutchinson; Daniel Myears, Mulvane; Tyson Bauerle, Hesston; Butch Hayes, Council Grove; Alex McMillan, Plainville.
Sean Frye | Tribune photos
