Little River vs. Leoti-Wichita County (Saturday 3:30) - WATCH HERE
Kevin Ayers is already one of only six coaches in Kansas history to win championships at two different schools. Ayers captured 2001 and ’03 titles with Jetmore and won in ’07 with Sharon Springs-Wallace County. Ayers and current Osborne coach Steve Tiernan are the lone coaches to accomplish the feat at an eight-man program.
Tiernan earned two titles apiece at Baileyville B&B and Osborne and led Solomon to a runner-up finish in ’18. Tom Young collected 11-man crowns at Hanover, Wellington and Derby. He is the only coach in state annals to win crowns at three schools.
Last week, Ayers, the second-year Little River coach, matched Tiernan when he guided the Redskins to a state finale. The Little River defeated Madison, 48-24, behind 343 total yards from senior Jayden Garrison and 13 tackles by senior Graham Stephens. Madison was ranked No. 1, the second time the Redskins have beaten a higher ranked foe in the playoffs.
The duo has switched off at quarterback the last two falls and led the team defensively. Garrison paces with 2,194 all-purpose yards and has accounted for 55 touchdowns. Stephens has accounted for 28 scores and leads the Redskins with 121 tackles, 20 for loss. Both are considered among the state’s top multi-sport athletes for all classes.
Ayers, 177-43 in his 21st overall season, said the players and challenges “are the same” compared to his previous state-qualifying squads. However, a key area differentiates 2020.
“The COVID weight that everyone is feeling has just been our biggest challenge,” Ayers said. “And even though we haven’t missed a game, we have had kids quarantined, which has been challenging and hard. Because we have had some seniors miss some ball games.”
Little River, ranked No. 3 in the preseason and second currently, nearly had its year torpedoed because of coronavirus. In the week of sub-state volleyball last month, Ayers said some girls tested positive for COVID.
“There was just fear that with the contact tracing stuff we were going to be quarantined and miss a playoff game, and so our football team went remote at that time, and I think that really saved our season,” Ayers said. “It’s been hard. It’s been such a challenge. We want those kids in school.”
On Saturday, Little River (10-2) will face top-ranked Leoti-Wichita County (12-0) in the Eight-Man, Division I state championship game at Newton’s Fischer Field. Start time is 3:30 p.m.
Wichita County, ranked second in the preseason, is into the state final for the first time in school history. The Indians are 28-5 under third-year coach Brant Douglas after a 3-6 mark in the fall prior to his arrival. The Indians reached the state semifinals last fall, then the school’s best showing in 29 years. Little River is into the state finals for the first time since ’01. Little River is 5-4 all-time in finals, with the last title 21 season ago. Wichita County’s last athletic titles came in wrestling in 1995-96.
Douglas and the team were “really concerned” about players getting quarantined just from being in close contact in classes to someone else testing positive for COVID. Wichita County players went through PPE training and wore facemasks and face shields all day, every day.
“Our guys did a lot of little things beyond just football to make sure that they could have a full season and had a chance to be where they are at right now,” Douglas said.
Wichita County leads Division I in scoring offense with 696 points, while Little River is third at 632. Defensively, Wichita County is second with 102 points permitted. Little River has allowed twice as many.
However, Wichita County only has slight advantages in yards per play – 9.2 to 8.9. Little River is +21 in turnover margin, Wichita County stands at +16.
Wichita County has won 11 consecutive games by the 45-point margin. The Indians’ closest contest was a 54-20 victory over Hoxie in the season-opener.
Last week, the Wichita County won at Hoxie, 58-6, in a game that ended at halftime. Hoxie was 9-0 in all other contests. Senior running back/linebacker Jesse Gardner and senior end Manny Chavez, the team’s vocal leader and top defensive player, are the lone two-way starters.
“I knew we had a really good team,” Douglas said. “We just have athletes everywhere, and our o-line and d-line do a great job and we’re able to have a lot of guys only start one way, but it’s like I tell them, ‘Margin of victory is great and all, but all that matters is that we win by one point,’ and winning by one is a victory and that’s all that we are worried about this weekend.”
Chavez came back to Leoti from nearby Greeley County and missed last fall because of transfer rules. Wichita County beat Little River, 74-38, in the ‘19 state quarterfinals, though Stephens was out with injury. Douglas said Little River is “quite a bit different” this season compared to last fall and looks “more comfortable” in the second season with Ayers.
“They are very assignment sound on defense,” Douglas said. “We try to exploit teams that aren’t assignment sound, so we are going to have to play our best game on offense, and then they give full effort all the time.”
Wichita County is reaching rarified air when combining its scoring offense, scoring defense and strength of schedule. Since 2010, the best eight-man teams are generally considered (in some order): 2012 Ness City, ’15 Spearville, ’16-17 Hanover, ’18 Central Plains and ’19 Canton-Galva.
Wichita County won’t be able to match the scoring defense of ’12 Ness City, ’16 Hanover and ’18 Central Plains. All those squads allowed 72 total points or fewer, including an incredible 34 points allowed by Central Plains.
Ness City’s closest margin of victory was 32 points, Hanover 20 and Central Plains 16.
In ’13, Osborne set the state record with 760 points, and then broke it with 764 in ’16. Both of those seasons, the Bulldogs allowed at least 230 points.
However, Wichita County could join ’15 Spearville, ’17 Hanover and ’19 Canton-Galva as the only eight-man teams in the last 14 years to 1) post an undefeated season, 2) score more than 700 points, and 3) allow less than 150. Spearville’s closest margin of victory was 30 points. Hanover’s last two wins came by a combined 18 points. Canton-Galva’s closest victory was 26.
“You just put in the film and they kind of just ‘wow’ you at so many different positions,” Ayers said. “They are all seniors. You can tell that they’ve been coached for a while, and they know how to play the game.”
Wichita County has faced a stronger strength of schedule than the other elite eight-man teams. Teams in the Indians’ district combined for only one non-district loss. Overall, when the Indians’ opponents did not play Wichita County, they combined for a 72.8 winning percentage (75-28).
In 2015, Spearville’s opponents combined for a 70.7 winning percentage, while Canton-Galva’s opponents won 69.4 percent last year. Ness City’s 2012 opponents won 66.4 percent of their games, and Central Plains’ opponents won 63 percent in 2018. In 2016, Hanover’s opponents stood at 62 percent, and in 2017 Hanover’s opponents won 61 percent of their games.
Ayers, considered a defensive mastermind with his 3-2 look, is long known for his preparation.
“It’s one of the things that I really love about the game,” Ayers said. “It’s a stressful thing. You really want to put your players in a position to be successful, and so you study and you study, and you have to make decisions which direction you are going to go, and that’s a stressful thing, because you are making basically an educated guess, and so that’s what we do, but it’s a chess match.”
“I mean, coach Douglas is so creative with his offense,” Ayers added. “And he understands how to put a defense in a bad position by formation, and alignment and motion, and so he is extremely difficult to prepare for.”
Wichita County has its bevy of well-known players, such as Chavez, Gardner, quarterback Kayde Rietzke, receiver Sheldon Whalen, and lineman A.C. Hermosillo. All are seniors; the latter three are returning first team all-state. Rietzke has completed 70 percent of his passes for 1,655 yards with a 33/5 TD/INT ratio. He has rushed for 1,270 yards and 23 scores. Whalen has 45 catches for 801 yards and 21 TDs. Chavez has 34 catches, seven for scores, along with a team-best 18 tackles for loss.
“This Wichita County team is comfortable at any time in the game,” Ayers said. “They have vertical threats. Whalen is as good a receiver as you will see.”
Wichita County’s offensive line has had the same starters the last two falls. Hermosillo led the Indians with 89 carries as a freshman before Douglas came. He changed the offense to a spread look and bumped Hermosillo to the line. The 5-foot-10, 263-pound Hermosillo has even scored a receiving TD this fall. The line has helped Wichita County improve from 6.7 yards per carry last season to 8.8 this year. All the linemen are 230-260 pounds.
“(AC) runs like an oversized running back, so on our pulling plays and just getting downfield, the second and third level, he does a great job,” Douglas said.
Ayers has been especially proud of junior center Kaden Schafer’s improvement and notably the team’s blocking on the edge. Little River calls senior Keaton Richardson (5-7), senior Trey Rolfs (6-1), and sophomore Braden Young the “mini-Hogs” on the outside.
“I love putting in film and just watching those guys get downfield and get a hat on a hat, and a lot of times that’s what springs the big play,” Ayers said. “It goes from a six-yard gain to a 40-yard touchdown, because we have got a lot of guys doing the dirty work.”
***Thanks to Kpreps, KSHSAA and Prep Power Index databases/archives for historical information
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