Back to Kpreps this fall, our contributors will hand out helmet stickers to a team or individual that delivered the most important performance of the week in their opinion. Check back each week to see the most recent helmet stickers, and follow @Kpreps on Twitter and Facebook to watch as the Kpreps helmet fills up with stickers as the season goes on.
Helmet sticker: Dodge City (Conor Nicholl – Kpreps)
Dodge City improved to 6-0 with a 40-21 home victory versus Hays High in Western Athletic Conference play. The Red Demons rank third in Class 6A in scoring defense with just 98 points permitted. Derby is first at 40, and Gardner-Edgerton stands second with 83. Derby, Lawrence and Dodge City are the only three undefeated teams left in 6A. Dodge City posted a 6-4 mark in ’18, including a 3-3 start that yielded 186 points permitted in the first six contests.
However, Dodge City made a huge comeback in a 34-33 road win against Hays High last year. Including the victory, DC is 10-1 in its last 11 contests. Entering this year, Dodge City was 36-40 in the eight prior seasons.
For 2019, Dodge City has shifted to a three-front with smaller players on the defensive line. Veteran coach Dave Foster and his staff learned the defense from new Dodge City Community College coach Ricky Coon, a Wichita South graduate and former Bethel College lineman. Coon had great success at FCS Southeast Missouri State. He and Wichita Northwest’s Steve Martin are best friends and played line together at Bethel. Northwest has also enjoyed a 6-0 start and big defensive improvement in Class 5A.
Dodge City also leads the WAC with 204 points, according to conference statistician/Hays High broadcaster Dustin Armbruster. DC paces the league with a wide margin with 1,072 passing yards and is second overall with 2,263 yards of total offense. Beau Foster has completed 62 of 111 passes for 1,060 yards with eight touchdowns versus two interceptions.
He leads Dodge City with 635 rushing yards, and Alden Knedler is second at 450 rushing yards. Knedler has 10 rushing touchdowns, and Matt Friess has five receiving scores, both conference-bests. Knedler also paces the WAC with four interceptions. No one else has more than two. He has caused a pair of fumbles. John Johnson leads the team with 52 tackles.
The Red Demons will play at rival Garden City in the annual Hatchet Game this week. Garden City is 2-4, 2-0 in the WAC.
Helmet sticker: Hutchinson Trinity Catholic (Alex Hammeke -- Kpreps)
After graduating all but two starters from last year’s 9-2 squad, Trinity Catholic evened its record at 3-3 last week and earn my helmet sticker. Miles Friday and Evan Remar, the two starters from last year, have been solid leaders on a defense full of new faces. In their three victories, the Celtics have allowed an average of only 154 yards per game.
The Celtics started out with wins over Marion and Inman, but then lost three straight with a tough stretch that included one-loss Ell-Saline, and ranked teams in Conway Springs and Garden Plain. Last week Trinity got back on their winning ways with a 54-0 shutout of Wichita Independent.
The rest of the schedule looks favorable for the Celtics, as they face winless Whitewater-Remington this week before traveling to Chaparral to decide position of the final two playoff spots.
Helmet sticker: KC Washington (Matt Gilmore – Kpreps)
My helmet sticker goes to the Washington Wildcats for improving to 4-2 on the season with a 26-18 victory over KC Wyandotte. The Wildcats, under first-year coach Camron Smith, have a chance to capture the Kansas City-Atchison League title outright with a win over KC Schlagle this week.
Washington has never won a playoff game according to the records of PrepPowerIndex. In fact, the Wildcats have only reached the playoff bracket five times in school history with three of those coming in the last three seasons after the format changed to include all schools. The Wildcats came close last season, losing 27-20 to Olathe West in the opening round. Olathe West went on to reach the Class 5A state semifinals.
But something feels different about the buzz surrounding this team. The Wildcats have won their four KCAL games by an average score of 43 to 14. Their only two losses have come to Lincoln College Prep (Mo.) who is 7-0 and Shawnee Heights (3-3).
The offense is led by junior Cory Macon who has passed for 659 yards and seven touchdowns, while Thomas Anderson has rushed for a team-high 574 yards and eight scores.
The receiving group includes three players have more than 100 yards including Markeith Grayson, Jr, who has all the tools to be a next-level wideout. Tywan Muturi leads the team with 217 receiving yards and two scores, but may be more known for his talents as a defensive back where he has picked off eight passes in six games and returned three of those for touchdowns.
Anderson is not only the team’s leading rusher, but also doubles as the top tackler with 40 stops. Fellow senior Dominic Jacobs has 39 stops including seven for loss and six sacks.
After this week’s KCAL showdown with Schlagle, the Wildcats close out the regular season against winless KC Turner. A pair of wins could allow Washington to finish among the top four seeds on the East side of the Class 5A bracket.
Helmet sticker: St. Francis (Conor Nicholl -- Kpreps)
Second-year St. Francis head coach Nick Fawcett is an advocate of physical, smashmouth football. He grew up with the style, and Fawcett noted SF has “really tough farm kids.”
SF runs the single wing and displayed its physical style in a key 46-0 district victory versus Leoti-Wichita County last week. Wichita County ranks third in the classification with 328 points. St. Francis improved to 6-0, 3-0 in Eight-Man, Division I, District 8. WC dropped to 5-1, 2-1. SF bounced back from its wild 30-28 road victory against rival Hoxie two weeks ago. The Indians have permitted just 30 points and held five of six opponents without a touchdown.
Fawcett preaches the toughness every single week. St. Francis hits the blocking sled daily, a rarity. St. Francis looks to drive people off the ball with every snap. Similar to the University of Nebraska’s “Black Shirts” defense, St. Francis has the “Mean Green” defense. Fawcett said if a player is willing to hit, be physical and make plays, they get a Mean Green jersey. As well, the players get a sticker on its helmet.
Entering last week, four players had earned the six points necessary to get a jersey. Points are awarded for forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, interceptions, big hits and other top plays.
Brady Dinkel, a four-year starter at safety, and standout defensive ends Adam Krien and Jesse Baxter have earned the jersey, along with senior outside linebacker Jayce Nider, a surprise player. He posted a team-high 35 tackles entering Wichita County.
Nider’s family moved from North Dakota to St. Francis. Fawcett said Nider is undersized but plays with great physicality. Junior Josiah Sims also moved in from Texas. Sims has liked football more this year and has wanted to face off against bigger opponents.
Offensively, Dinkel has more than 700 rushing yards in his third season at quarter. Junior Shadyron Blanka has stepped in for graduated Jordan Raby, the classification offensive player of the year. Blanka has more than 560 rushing yards.
St. Francis is 17-1 under Fawcett. The Indians have lost just one regular season contest since the start of 2015. In that span, SF has permitted 12.6, 9.3, 12 and 12.7 points per game. This year, the Indians rank second in Eight-Man, Division I in scoring defense.
ACA Sportsmanship Award (Week 6): Colton Neitzel of St. Francis
Kpreps is excited to announce a new award for the 2019 season – the weekly Sportsmanship Award. We have teamed up with 'A Class Athlete' (ACA) to recognize those individuals or groups that demonstrate sportsmanship and high character during the heat of action. This award is open to students or student-athletes who goes above and beyond to demonstrate an act of kindness or sportsmanship.
We are pleased to announce that this week we are recognizing Colton Neitzel of St. Francis.
Mindy Bradstreet, a parent from an opposing school, submitted the following nomination for Colton a few weeks ago.
I would love to nominate Colton Neitzel of St. Francis for this week’s ACA Sportsmanship award. As a parent from the opposing school I witnessed after our home game Colton making sure he made the rounds to shake every officials hand. He was the only player I noticed to do that. We have had an injury-stricken year and my son is the only senior left on the team that hasn’t been injured. After the game he found my son to shake his hand & tell him good game. This is truly a class act kid! His actions spoke volumes to my husband & I and all the spectators who witnessed what we saw! He truly cares about everybody who participated at the game not just himself or his team’s victory!
Last Friday night, Kpreps editor Matt Gilmore was viewing the online stream of the St. Francis and Leoti-Wichita County game from Open Spaces Sports. Upon the game’s conclusion, Matt noticed Colton again running to catch each official and shaking their hand to say ‘thank you’. Colton’s actions set a great example for others and he seems to appreciate the importance of each individual that is necessary to make high school sports a successful experience for those who participate.
Each week during the season, we will choose an individual or group as recipient of this award. Winners will receive the Sportsmanship Excellence Award Certificate, and the unique ACA helmet sticker as part of our Kpreps Helmet Stickers feature. At the end of the season, we will choose one overall winner, for the annual Kpreps-ACA Sportsmanship Award.
Please help us by emailing your nomination stories, pictures, or videos to matt@kpreps.com and ACA@kpreps.com. You can also send to Kpreps via social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc). Please include the name of the person(s) involved and a description of the act or event that you are nominating. Nominations for the award will be accepted through Tuesday of each week, with the winners announced thereafter. We will list the weekly winners here, at kpreps.com, and also on aclassathlete.com. The overall winner will be announced after the State Championship games.
ABOUT A Class Athlete:
A Class Athlete was started in 2016 to encourage young athletes in all sports, to play hard, play to win, but also to play with class and dignity. Originally targeting youth sports, ACA quickly expanded to include middle school and high school sports, and beyond (coaches, cheerleaders, fans – everyone!). In recent years, participation in youth sports has continued to decline, and the #1 reason according to the kids: 'It's not fun anymore.' ACA is determined to bring the fun and the kids back!
Participating in sports is very beneficial in many areas. It helps build confidence and self-esteem, teaches respect, teamwork, and leadership skills, and improves communication and cooperation – all qualities needed to be successful in life. It is said that participation in sports reveals a persons’ character. But ACA believes, when sportsmanship is emphasized, it is a very important aspect in building a young person's character and integrity.
For more information, please visit www.aclassathlete.com.
Helmet Stickers (2019 Season)
Week 1 – Great Bend, Hutchinson Central Christian, KC Harmon, Larned, Ottawa
Week 2 – Blue Valley Northwest, Cheney, Deerfield, La Crosse, Northeast-Arma, Shawnee Mission West
Week 3 – Belle Plaine, Clearwater, Lawrence, South Barber
Week 4 – Chase County, Eureka, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Wheatland-Grinnell
Week 5 – Cedar Vale-Dexter, Lyons, Southeast-Cherokee, Winfield
Week 6 – Dodge City, Hutchinson Trinity, KC Washington, Saint Francis
A Class Athlete Sportsmanship Award (2019 Season)
Week 1 – Landon O’Hare, Lincoln High School
Week 2 – Plainville High School & Student Council
Week 3 – Kayden Christiansen, Lakin High School
Week 4 – Hunter Engle of Madison and Nate Burdette of Maranatha Christian Academy
Week 5 – Jalen Bush & Caney Valley High School
Week 6 – Colton Neitzel of St. Francis
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