Kpreps Game Day feature is designed to provide you with a program for things to watch out for each week in Kansas High School Football. If you have suggestions for what you would like to see in future Game Day features, send us a message on Twitter or Facebook.
Weather alters Thursday games:
Severe storms interrupted an unusually busy Thursday night across the state of Kansas with several games being delayed and then postponed until later dates. Here is a look at Thursday’s action:
- Blue Valley at Blue Valley North – ppd until Friday at 3:00 PM (Blue Valley leads 14-7 at halftime)
- Lawrence at Shawnee Mission East – ppd until Friday at 3:00 (Lawrence leads 7-0; 5:29 1Q)
- Frontenac at St. Mary’s Colgan – ppd until 1:00 PM Saturday (Frontenac leads 20-0, 3:25 2Q)
- Leavenworth at Shawnee Mission Northwest – ppd until 3:00 PM Friday (SMNW leads 28-0, 5:42 2Q) *game is at SM South
Thursday’s Finals:
- Gardner-Edgerton 34, Olathe West 7 – FINAL (called with 1:50 remaining in 3Q)
- KC Sumner 26, Topeka Highland Park 24 - FINAL
- Wichita Northwest 75, Wichita East 8 – FINAL
What’s next after the Miracle on Morton Street?
Great Bend follows up its “Miracle on Morton Street” 13-10 home victory against Andover with a road trip to its biggest rival, Western Athletic Conference foe Hays High, at Fort Hays’ Lewis Field Stadium. Hays lost 48-30 at Junction City in Week 1, though features one of the better multi-purpose players in senior Hayden Brown. Great Bend is 9-6 versus Hays High in the last 15 meetings in a matchup that is generally very close.
Last year, Great Bend won 15-7 in a game that wasn’t decided until the final play. Two seasons ago, HHS pulled the upset, 21-20 in overtime, in Hays. Of the last 10 meetings, six are within 11 points or fewer, four by eight or less and a pair by one-point margins.
“It’s always been this way,” Great Bend coach Erin Beck said. “Great Bend and Hays, this thing goes back decades that whenever Great Bend and Hays lock it up, it is a knock out, drag out type of game. I don’t see this year being any different. Both teams just elevate their play a little bit, and the emotions just elevate. So I see it happening again next Friday night.”
“Hays is going to have a lot of young guys that are very athletic on their defense that are going to be good, so it is going to be a fun game,” he added. “I wish it wasn’t Week 2, but here we go.”
Week 2 - Notable Games:
Kapaun Mt. Carmel (1-0) at Wichita West (1-0)
Incredibly, Kapaun is 1-0 despite scoring only six points last week. The Crusaders topped Wichita Southeast, 6-3 to open the season last week. Kapaun’s lone scoring play came on a touchdown pass from Jarius Kennedy to Tiger Jones. Kennedy completed only four of 14 pass attempts last week, but led the Crusaders with 84 yards on the ground. Kapaun will take on Wichita West at Friends University. The Pioneers traveled to Hutchinson last week and handled the Salthawks for a second consecutive season. Wichita West beat Hutch 38-14 after last year’s 55-14 blowout of the Salthawks at Friends. Last year in this meeting, Kapaun scored only once and topped the Pioneers, 6-0. The Crusaders will likely have to be more productive on offense this week to beat Wichita West.
KC Washington (1-0) at KC Harmon (1-0)
We’ve well documented that Harmon’s 35-0 win over KC Turner in the opener ended the Hawk’s 30-game losing streak. But the other sidelines will feature another good story in the Washington Wildcats. Washington opened with a 40-14 victory over Atchison in which the Wildcat defense forced nine Redmen turnovers. Senior Tywan Muturi intercepted three passes and returned one for a touchdown to help the Wildcats to victory. In fact, Muturi had another pick-6 in the fourth quarter that was called back due to penalty. Washington quarterback Thomas Anderson rushed for a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Anderson also intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble on the defensive side of the ball.
Andover Central (1-0) at Goddard-Eisenhower (1-0)
Which new coach will start out 2-0? Andover Central’s Derek Tuttle and Eisenhower’s Darrin Fisher both picked up their first victories last week. Tuttle’s Jaguars routed Augusta, 35-7, behind a strong performance from Shomari Parnell. Parnell threw three touchdown passes and added a fourth score on the ground. Parnell has one of the state’s top athletes at wide out in Xavier Bell, who caught a pair of long touchdown passes in the win over the Orioles. Meanwhile, Eisenhower got a Parker Wenzel touchdown run late in the third quarter to take a 21-14 lead on Salina Central. The Tigers held on to defeat the Mustangs as Chance Omli picked off a pass in the end zone last in the game. The winner of this one will likely keep pace with Goddard and Maize South in the AVCTL-II league race, while Andover also figures to be a factor.
Lansing (1-0) at Basehor-Linwood (0-1)
Lansing will try and make it two consecutive wins against Basehor-Linwood as the Lions travel to take on the Bobcats. Last season, Lansing upset the Bobcats, 14-13 in the inaugural season of the United Kansas Conference. If the Lions are to make it two straight they’ll need another strong performance from quarterback Luke Schneider. Schneider rushed for more than 150 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 60 more yards in last week’s 34-27 win over Blue Valley Southwest. Derrick Robinson also added 150 yards on the ground for the Lions. Basehor-Linwood will look to bounce back from a 49-28 defeat at the hands of nearby rival Tonganoxie. The Bobcat defense gave up more than 230 rushing yards to senior Cooper Cunningham.
Can Norton score – and upset - against Smith Center?
Norton had won three of five against longtime Mid-Continent League rival Smith Center, though has dropped the last four in the series, including 43-0 and 40-0 losses the last two seasons. Norton is highly experienced and lost 29-22 at Plainville last week in a game where the Bluejays ran more plays, had more yards and committed fewer penalties. Smith Center shut out TMP, 34-0, last week and has captured back-to-back state championships.
Southeast-Cherokee (1-0) at Pleasanton (1-0)
Southeast visits Pleasanton in a game that could go a long way in deciding the Three Rivers League title. The Lancers opened with a 34-12 victory over Uniontown last week in which Jerrad Hansen’s offense produced more than 300 yards on the ground. Senior Gage Oplotnik led the way with 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On the other side, Pleasanton did things quite differently in their season-opening win over Northeast-Arma. Freshman quarterback Dale Gillespie threw six touchdown passes as the Blu-Jays beat Northeast, 62-0. Remember last season this was expected to be a game that included a lot of offense and it ended up an 8-0 Pleasanton victory in the mud.
Rivalries in Ellis County continue
In a rarity, all three Ellis County stadiums – Victoria, Lewis Field Stadium and Ellis – will host home contests and rivalry games. As well, like Great Bend and Hays High, these have historically been back-and-forth series. Victoria (1-0) plays host to Central Plains (0-1). Victoria and Central Plains have split the last eight meetings.
Ellis (0-1) has Thomas More Prep (0-1) on the western side of the county in a Mid-Continent League matchup. Ellis’ Ty Cass and TMP’s Jay Harris are in their first year as high school head coaches after previously serving as the junior high head coach for their respective school districts. TMP is 3-2 since the series restarted, with three of the games decided by a combined 22 points, including a 14-7 Monarch victory last year.
Standout sophomore running backs matchup
La Crosse’s Colby Stull and Russell’s Jesse Whitmer have already made claims for being among the state’s key players for the Class of 2022. On Friday, 1A La Crosse (1-0) plays host to 3A Russell (0-1) in likely the last matchup between the teams. La Crosse will switch down to eight-man football next year. Last season, in what was believed to be the inaugural game between the squads, Russell won 50-12.
La Crosse has 29 players, while Russell has 28, and a new coach in the well-traveled Otis Hendryx. The Broncos fell 44-22 to Ellsworth last week, the first of three straight road contests. Whitmer finished with 10 carries for 137 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown run. As a freshman, he led the team with 79 tackles.
Stull recorded seven carries for 137 yards and a score, and caught two passes for 68 yards. Senior quarterback Hunter Morgan tossed for 329 yards, easily the most yards passing in the 11-year Jon Webster era. Last year, Stull had three rushing scores and led the team with 123 carries for 532 yards in 2018.
No. 4 South Central begins tough stretch
The South Central Timberwolves have climbed to No. 4 in the latest Kpreps 8M-I rankings, but things are about to get challenging. The T’Wolves will travel to Spearville on Friday to take on the Royal Lancers, followed by a home game with No. 3 ranked Hodgeman County prior to the beginning of district play. South Central’s district includes road games against traditional playoff qualifiers in Udall and Caldwell sandwiched around a home date with a Medicine Lodge program that is building momentum under Josh Ybarra. Add in a regular-season finale at Argonia-Attica, and you can see that the Timberwolves are once again going to have to earn their playoff position. But first, South Central gets a test against a traditional contender in Spearville which opened with a 68-18 win over Satanta last week. Last season, South Central scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Lancers, 24-8. Quarterback Chayde Snyder had a big game in last year’s meeting rushing for nearly 175 yards and three touchdowns, but it was the South Central defense that limited Spearville to 110 yards of total offense.
Otis-Bison (0-1) at Bucklin (0-1)
Victoria/Otis-Bison has often been a marquee eight-man matchup in the last decade. However, coach Travis Starr believes the Cougars’ Week 2 game has much greater import for his squad. Last Friday, Otis-Bison fell 42-14 at home to the Knights, the only Central Prairie League game the Cougars have all season.
This week, district play starts for Otis-Bison – and many other eight-man squads. Eight-Man, Division II struggled in the opening week with a 15-37 record, while Division I posted a 34-14 mark, according to Prep Power Index.
Eight-Man, Division II, District 3 features No. 1 Hanover and No. 2 Axtell and went 4-3. District 5, with No. 3 Osborne, posted a 5-1 collective mark. However, District 2 and District 8, which includes Otis-Bison, all had their teams lose. District 4 had just one victory. Otis-Bison will travel to Bucklin, an experienced team, this week. The Cougars rolled through district play last year, though District 8 is expected to be much improved with veteran players for Bucklin, Ingalls and Minneola.
Otis-Bison has captured 13 straight district games, all by at least 24 points. Otis-Bison is 3-2 all-time against Bucklin since ’96 with losses coming in ’96-97. Cougar senior Seth Hoopingarner injured his ankle in the Spearville jamboree and again in Week 1, though is expected to play Friday.
“You’ve just got to do it,” Starr said. “You know going in that Week 1 is your only league game, and you are going against Victoria, so you are playing for pride, and you are playing for the league, but Week 2 is by far a bigger game for us – and we’ve got to get better from Week 1 to Week 2, and not relive Week 1. But we’ve got to learn some things from it, too, but Bucklin, we’ve got to be ready. We’ve got to be focused.”
District Play begins in 8-Man, Division II
It’s hard to believe we will begin sorting out the playoff picture in Week 2, but believe it or not, district play does begin for several 8-Man, Division II (8M-II) teams this week. Eight-man, Division I (8M-I) is made up of 48 total teams divided equally into eight, six-team districts. That means that each team plays five district games that begin in Week 4.
On the other hand, the 8M-II classification contains 52 teams, meaning that four of the eight districts (or half) have a seventh member. A seven-team district means each team will play six district games, with one team having a non-district game each week. Therefore, it’s Week 2, and we’re starting district play in 8M-2.
Here’s a look at the district matchups scheduled for this week:
District 3
Blue Valley Randolph (0-1) at Axtell (1-0)
Doniphan West (0-1) at Hanover (1-0)
Onaga (1-0) at Frankfort (1-0)
District 4
Beliot St. John’s-Tipton (0-1) at Linn (0-1)
Lakeside-Downs (0-1) at Mankato-Rock Hills (1-0)
Tescott (0-1) at Pike Valley (0-1)
District 7
Burrton (0-1) at Pretty Prairie (0-1)
South Barber (0-1) at Fairfield (0-1)
Hutchinson Central Christian (1-0) at Norwich (1-0)
District 8
Otis-Bison (0-1) at Bucklin (0-1)
Chase (0-1) at Ingalls (0-1)
Stafford (0-1) at Minneola (0-1)
Keep an eye on the state’s current longest streaks (by classification):
Current Longest Winning Streaks:
Class 6A
Derby – 14
Class 5A
St. Thomas Aquinas - 13
Class 4A
Bishop Miege - 7
Class 3A
Sabetha – 21
Class 2A
Phillipsburg - 14
Class 1A
Smith Center – 11
Class 8M-I
Pratt-Skyline – 3
Class 8M-II
Hanover - 39
6-Man
Weskan - 7
Current Longest Losing Streaks:
Class 6A
Shawnee Mission West – 20 games
Blue Valley Northwest – 13 games
Class 5A
Topeka Highland Park – 45 games (includes Thursday night)
Class 4A
Independence – 13 games
Class 3A
Bishop Ward – 48 games
Osawatomie – 10 games
Rock Creek – 10 games
Class 2A
Lyons – 30 games
Oskaloosa – 14 games
Horton – 12 games
Wichita Independent –11 games
Class 1A
Sublette – 33 games
Republic County – 20 games
Class 8-Man, Division I
St. John – 14 games
Class 8-Man, Division II
Burrton – 18 games
Tescott – 10 games
6-Man
Deerfield – 27 games
Western Plains – 21 games
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