Rising Star Roadtrip: Hays’ Malik Bah back healthy and ready to lead in senior role

HAYS, Kan. (Catch It Kansas) - The 2022 Hays Indians under head coach Tony Crough made school history, tallying the most wins ever in the Hays High record books. Their winning ways even leading them to a state semifinal berth deep in the star studded 5A playoffs.

“Man they just kept shocking everyone,” Crough said. “It was a heck of a lot of fun. Especially when people were thinking that maybe we were going to be down after we lost the guys we had the year before.”

“It was an absolute blast,” said Hays senior Henry Fitzthum. “I was a part of the playoff run for that team the year before and to experience that again was great.”

Despite the deep playoff run, the Indians weren’t able to crack that coveted state championship game. The good news for Hays though, is they return their star leading rusher Malik Bah for his senior year.

Bah was a force for the Indians offense last season. He tallied 155 carries, rushed for over 1,600 yards as well as 22 touchdowns. The most impressive part of the numbers: Bah missed games due to a sidelining elbow injury.

“We kind of totaled it up and he only played in half the quarters,” Crough said. “We played 12 games last year. He played in about six games worth of quarters.”

Now Bah is fully healthy and shaping to be a top player in an always loaded 5A west.

“I’m healthy I feel good,” Bah said. “I think we can play with all the other teams. We’re still hays high Indians. We got a great coach who knows how to get us to where we need to be. We’ve got great teammates. We’ve just got a good brotherhood over here.”

“If he gets a chance to be out there every down for a whole season he might put up some special, special numbers,” Crough said.

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