Class 4A
4A East
#4 Bishop Miege (9-2) at #2 Paola (11-0) – Bishop Miege
Bishop Miege continues its quest for a sixth consecutive state championship as the Stags travel to unbeaten Paola.
Miege advanced to the semifinal round by knocking out top-seed Tonganoxie, 54-10, last week. The Stags broke open a 7-7 tie in the second quarter with three touchdowns and eventually wore down Tonganoxie, 54-10.
Timothy Dorsey threw six touchdown passes as part of his 244-yard night. Dorsey’s touchdown pass to Mack Moeller early in the second quarter broke the tie, and shortly after Phillippe Wesley returned a punt for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
For the season, Dorsey has passed for 2,500 yards and 35 touchdowns against only five interceptions. He has one of the top receiving groups in the state at his disposal in senior Daniel Jackson, Phillippe Wesley, and Mack Moeller. Jackson has rebounded from mission his junior season with an injury to pull in 58 receptions for 1,216 yards and 21 touchdowns. Wesley has added 37 catches for 713 yards and nine scores. Meanwhile, Moeller caught three touchdown passes in last week’s win, while Daniel Jackson had two, and Wesley one.
Meanwhile, Paola is trying to make its first state title game appearance since a runner-up finish in 2006. The Panthers have rolled to an 11-0 season behind a consistent running game and a stingy defense.
However, Paola hasn’t been at full strength for a couple of weeks. Junior quarterback Garrett Williams suffered a shoulder injury early on in the Panthers’ playoff win over KC Piper two weeks ago and has not returned.
The Panthers’ standout senior running back Connor Hasz was also injured early in the game against the Pirates, reaggravating an ankle injury suffered in the season finale against Louisburg. Hasz was the primary ball carrier in the Panther offense with 1,179 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.
In their absence, Ryan Sloan has filled well at quarterback and Evan Phillips and Fletcher Aude have stepped up to put up some big rushing numbers. Sloan passed for 144 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Piper, while Phillips added 169 rush yards and 118 receiving yards and three scores.
In last week’s 42-34 win over Chanute, Phillips rushed for 218 yards while Aude added 189 yards and three scores on the ground. Jovannie Blackie added a touchdown run for Paola.
With its full compliment of players, Paola could challenge Miege with a ball-control run-heavy approach. However, last week the Panthers has several younger players forced into action.
The biggest key may be that Williams and Hasz are also focal points in the Paola secondary. This means some less experienced players have a big challenge in slowing Miege’s elite receiving group.
4A West
#2 Andover Central (10-1) at #1 McPherson (11-0) – Andover Central
Both teams are looking for school history. Andover Central, a much newer program than McPherson, is in the semifinals for the second time in school annals. The Jaguars were the state runners-up in 2015 to Bishop Miege. McPherson is 0-4 all-time in state semifinals and has never made a state title game in school history. The Bullpups lost in '87, '08 and the last two years, including a slight upset to Goddard in ‘18.
This is only the fourth all-time meeting between the schools, according to Kansas Football History. McPherson won twice in 2010 and once in '11. This is likely a great matchup behind Andover Central's excellent passing game versus McPherson's vaunted defense.
McPherson, against a much softer schedule, has outscored opponents, 439-92. Andover Central has a total margin of 351-129. Andover Central has doubled its win total from last year under new coach Derek Tuttle. He had been an assistant all 17 years of the Jaguars' existence under former coach Tom Audley, who retired after last fall.
Andover Central has passed for 204 yards a game and rushed for 122. Senior Shomari Parnell has completed 129 of 233 passes for 2,073 yards with a 22/11 TD/INT ratio. The Jaguars average nine yards per pass attempt, 3.7 yards per rush attempt and 5.8 yards per play with a 26/12 TD/INT ratio. Last year, the Jaguars scored just 15.7 points per game for a team that averaged 7.0 yards per pass attempt and 2.5 yards per rush. Last year, Matt Macy and Xavier Bell combined for 39 catches and 11 scores.
This season, Bell has emerged as one of the state's top receivers and has a priority walk-on offer from Oklahoma and significant Division I basketball interest. He has 59 catches for 829 yards and 11 scores. Macy has 35 catches for 832 yards and 10 scores. Leading tackler Jack Wiens transferred to Wichita Northwest, but Trey Degarmo has delivered another big season with 133 tackles, 13 for loss. Andover Central has committed 20 turnovers and is plus-eight in turnover margin.
McPherson is balanced with 165 receiving and 168 rushing yards a game. Senior Kaleb Hoppes has completed 117 of 214 passes for 1,662 yards with a 19/7 TD/INT ratio. Senior Jakob Feil has 133 carries for 803 yards and 13 scores. Hoppes has 95 rushes for 612 yards and 11 scores.
McPherson has averaged 6.3 yards per rush, and 7.7 yards per pass. McPherson has 6.9 yards per play. Senior end Cody Stufflebean, a Kansas State commit, has 12 catches for 193 yards and six TDs. He has 37 stops, seven TFLs. Senior Mason Thrash, one of the state's top linebackers, leads with 76 tackles.
Andover Central is a slight favorite with a more dynamic passing game and the combination of Macy/Bell.
Class 3A
3A EAST
Topeka Hayden (10-1) at Perry-Lecompton (8-3) – Hayden
Topeka Hayden will visit Perry-Lecompton for the second time this season. The Wildcats and Kaws met in district play back in Week 7 with Perry-Lecompton escaping with a 21-20, overtime win.
In the first meeting, Perry-Lecompton led 7-0 until the fourth quarter when each team traded touchdowns. Hayden needed a late touchdown pass from Johnny Holloway to Trey Pivarnik and a two-point conversion to tie the game and force overtime.
In overtime, Thad Metcalfe tossed a touchdown pass to Hunter Hess for the 21-14 lead. Hayden responded with a Jack Konrade touchdown run and the Bill Arnold elected to go for the two-point conversion and the win. The Kaws stopped Hayden’s TL Thompson just short of the goal line to win the game.
Perry-Lecompton quarterback Billy Welch left the earlier meeting with an injury and Metcalfe moved from his running back position behind center to lead the Kaws to victory. Metcalfe threw two touchdown passes and rushed for 91 yards in that meeting, while Welch passed for 254 yards and a score before leaving.
Welch has since returned and has put together a strong junior season with nearly 2,000 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Metcalfe has rushed for 1,241 yards and 12 scores. Junior Dawson Williams leads a balanced receiving group that has five guys with more than 200 receiving yards. Williams has a team high 34 receptions for 591 yards and six scores.
On the other side, Hayden will be without its starting quarterback, Holloway, after he suffered a season-ending collar bone injury in last week’s 14-6 win over Frontenac. The Wildcats will go with senior Cade Pavlik behind center after he led Hayden to the second half win over Frontenac.
The Wildcats feature a good offensive line and a balanced rushing attack. Konrade leads the team with more than 600 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Desmond Purnell has added 580 yards and 12 scores, while Will DeVader has contributed 465 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
Hayden also features a stout defensive front that allows only seven points per game.
The Wildcats will need to avoid turnovers in order to help Pavlik out in his first start. If Hayden can avoid turnovers and make the Kaws’ offense one-dimensional, the Wildcats may find themselves back in the state title game.
3A WEST
Cheney (9-2) at Andale (11-0) – Andale
This is a rematch from Week 8 that Andale won, 29-22, as Cheney easily presented the biggest challenge of the year for the Indians. Since then, Andale has posted wins of 51-18, 30-13, 38-7.
The Indians are again the No. 1-ranked team in 3A, similar to this point last fall. Andale lost, 21-19, in a slight upset to Pratt in the semifinals, one of just two losses in the three-year Dylan Schmidt era. The Indians have outscored teams, 556-68 and rank first in scoring offense and scoring defense.
Cheney is into the semifinals for the first time in school history and has enjoyed a seven-win improvement with coach Shelby Wehrman. Cheney has a total margin of 466-175.
Riley Petz again has enjoyed an excellent multi-faceted season with six interceptions, along with two pick-sixes, including a 99-yarder in a key Week 2 win versus Conway Springs that kickstarted the turnaround.
Petz has 941 rushing yards and 13 rushing scores and nearly 1,000 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.
Cheney led 7-0 after the first quarter in the first matchup. Overall, Andale finished with a 279-32 rushing edge. Petz had nine carries for 15 yards. However, he hauled in three catches for 104 yards and two scores. Zac Block completed 11 of 17 passes for 112 yards with a 3/2 TD/INT ratio, and Cheney had a 200-62 edge in passing.
Four Andale players had a rushing touchdown in the win, including Mac Brand, Easton Hunter, Eli Rowland, part of the team's great depth.
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