State championship week is upon us. We will crown five new state football champions this Saturday in the 11-man classifications. The 8-Man champions were determined last weekend Osborne and Baileyville B&B brought home titles in Division I and II, respectively. Let’s take a look at the Kpreps.com rankings for November 17th powered by Pinamonti Physical Therapy.
The Class 6A title game is set between No. 1 Derby and No. 2 Shawnee Mission East. The Derby Panthers had little trouble defeating Garden City 55-17 in Friday’s semifinal, while the SM East Lancers held off No. 3 Olathe North 37-27. Lawrence Free State and Olathe East round out the 6A poll at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
In Class 5A, Salina South remains in the top spot after defeating Kapaun Mount Carmel 38-24. The Cougars are in the state title game for the first time since 2004 and will face one of the teams that beat them this season in the Blue Valley Tigers. The second-ranked Tigers knocked off Blue Valley West 38-33 to advance to the state title game for the sixth time since 2003. Blue Valley won that 2003 state title 22-21 over Salina South.
Buhler is the new No. 1 in Class 4A as the Crusaders surprised Holton 28-14 to advance to their first state title game since 1990. Riley Allen rushed for more than 200 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead the Crusaders. Coffeyville-Field Kindley is No. 2 this week after beating Paola 36-15. The Golden Tornado special teams made big plays to set up two touchdowns and scored directly on a 70-yard blocked field goal return. Coffeyville also returned an interception for a score and picked off another pass that led to a short touchdown drive. The Golden Tornado has never advanced to a state football championship game. Holton falls to No. 3 this week, just ahead of Andale and Paola.
Beloit remains atop the Class 3A poll after eliminating defending state champion Scott City 36-13. Bowe Behymer returned a fumble 90 yards for a touchdown to extend the Trojans lead from 22-13 to 30-13. The Trojans will take on Silver Lake in the state title game. The Eagles advanced to the 3A title game for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons with a 27-13 win over rival Rossville. The Bulldogs drop to No. 3 with the loss to Silver Lake, while Scott City and Conway Springs round out the top five.
Perhaps no team in the state was more impressive than Centralia this past week. The top-ranked Panthers blasted previously unbeaten Lyndon 69-21 in a game that they led 54-0 at halftime. Centralia rushed for nearly 550 yards in the game in advancing to their third consecutive 2-1A state title game. Centralia will face No. 2 La Crosse which scored 32 consecutive points in turning an 18-6 deficit in to a 38-18 lead against Meade. Oakley, Meade, and Smith Center finish out the Class 2-1A top five poll this week.
Osborne completed a perfect 13-0 season with a 56-8 win over Hodgeman County in the 8-Man, Division I title game. Maverick LeRock scored five touchdowns and accounted for more than 200 yards of total offense to lead the Bulldogs. Hodgeman County finished 12-1 on the season and ranked No. 4 behind No. 2 Madison and No. 3 Marais des Cygnes Valley. Both the second-ranked Bulldogs (40-34) and third-ranked Trojans (68-52) lost to Osborne in the playoffs. Clifton-Clyde is ranked fifth this week after advancing to the state semifinals.
Finally in 8-Man, Division II, Baileyville B&B closed out a storybook season with a 42-19 win over No. 2 Sharon Springs-Wallace County. Quarterback Dustin Rottinghaus passed for 395 yards and four touchdowns to lead his Falcons to back-to-back state titles for the first time in school history. The championship was the fifth in B&B’s history and will close out their school as they join forces with Nemaha Valley to form the Nemaha Valley Thunder next school year.
Visit the Rankings page to view a complete list of the top five teams in each classification and how they performed last week.
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