Cheylin and Cunningham have each enjoyed great success in recent six-man seasons, though have not faced each other when both squads have been elite. Cheylin earned state runner-up finish in 2019 and undefeated state championship in ’20.
The Cougars won three games in an obstacle-filled ’21 before reaching the state semifinals last fall. Cunningham restarted its football program in 2019 and won one game that season. Since then, the Wildcats have built a colossus, including state runner-up in ’21 and undefeated state title last fall.
The teams have met twice, a 45-0 win by Cheylin in ’19 when the Wildcats were still building, and a 44-15 Cunningham victory in ’21 when the Cougars had a rare down season.
On Saturday, both teams will match up in the Six-Man state championship game at Dodge City’s Memorial Stadium.
Kickoff has been moved up to 12:00 P.M. due to the threat of impending winter weather.
Cheylin (12-0) has enjoyed the most wins in a single season in school history. The acclaimed senior class of Logan McCarty, Pablo Bermudez and Brady Ketzner is the winningest senior group for a school that formed in the mid-70s.
Cheylin twice pulled away from Ashland to win 66-32 on the road in Week 3 and earned a 66-27 home victory against Ashland last week. Cunningham opened the year with a 32-22 home loss to Ashland.
McCarty, Bermudez and Ketzner, and Cunningham’s Luke McGuire and Jack Ruckle are highly accomplished players with returning all-state honors. Cheylin has an average score of 64-7. Cunningham has an average score of 54-4. Both teams could set six-man state records for scoring offense and defense.
McCarty has completed 88 of 130 passes for 1,923 yards with 37 scores against one interception. He has rushed 82 times for 930 yards and 17 TDs. Bermudez has scored 41 touchdowns and found the end zone in five different ways. Bermudez has tallied 18 non-offensive TDs in his career, most in state history, according to publicly available data and Kansas Hall of Fame records. Ketzner leads the defense with 83 stops.
Walden has been highly complimentary of several other players, including Connor and Harley McPherson, junior John Paul Sabatka and senior Eddie Baca. Cheylin has forced a remarkable 40 turnovers. Sabatka and Baca have played on the defensive line and often wreaked havoc on the center/quarterback.
Cunningham has used McGuire and junior Will Wegerer at quarterback. They have combined for 30 touchdowns against one interception.
Cunningham led six-man in percentage of plays that were a pass in ’22. The Wildcats have been pass-heavy again with 52 percent of snaps going through the air. Junior Luke Albers has emerged as the go-to receiver and enjoyed a highlight reel filled season.
Cunningham has had contributions from all four grades, while Cheylin is more junior/senior heavy.
Both teams have excellent coaches who have built the best teams in each school’s history. The major questions likely come down to: whether Cheylin can continually force turnovers, and can Cunningham’s balanced attack slow Cheylin’s high-flying offense.
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