RILEY ELLIS-VIAN
Vian senior Riley Ellis is just a guy who likes sports. In football, he has played fullback where he has primarily led the blocking for the Wolverines talented backfield of Draighton Fletcher and Masyn Wright that has gone to the Class 2A state championship game each of the last two years. In baseball he pitches and plays shortstop.
“I like both sports equally,” said Riley. “I like football because I get to hit people and I like baseball just because it’s a fun game to play. My dad put me in football first when I was really little and then added baseball. He wanted me to play several sports, so I also wrestled and played basketball along the way until I reached middle school.”
As a baseball player he has captured several team awards in his time at Vian as baseball coach John Btrockman explained.
“Riley is one of our top pitchers and has been our pitcher of the year and offensive player of the year in past seasons. He played third base as a freshman and then moved the shortstop and has pitched for us since his freshman year.”
Always a team player, it’s not surprising that two of the many highlights that Riley told us about were overall team accomplishments.
“My football highlight would be us making the state finals the last two years and in baseball we had the longest winning streak in the state last year winning 26 games in a row.”
As the Wolverines get ready to start the 2026 baseball season, Riley has just two main goals for his senior season.
“I want to make it to state, and I want to keep my arm healthy. I’ve had some shoulder problems over the years so I want to do what I can to make sure I stay healthy the whole year. I think we have a chance to be really good this year. We lost just a couple of players, and we have some younger kids coming up to take their place.”
In addition to his sports activities, Riley is also in FFA where he shoots skeet and does welding projects and is on the school fishing team so it’s no surprise that hunting and fishing are things he likes to do in his spare time. When he graduates this spring, Riley knows what kind of legacy he would like to leave.
“I’d like to be remembered as someone that never gave up and always tried to keep my teammates up no matter the situation.”
