What a great opening week! In total, eleven ranked teams went down, including three No. 1 ranked teams. While Week 1 had that kind of “upset” potential with several big-time match-ups, will Week 2 settle things down?
Class 6A
Derby remains on top of the Class 6A poll after having no trouble with Goddard-Eisenhower in a 55-20 win. The Panthers got a good debut from quarterback Dan Dawdy in rolling to a 55-7 lead before the Tigers scored a couple of late touchdowns. Shawnee Mission East remains at No. 2 after sort of quietly drilling Sunflower League rival Olathe South, 62-7. Closing in on the Lancers in the No. 2 spot is No. 3 Blue Valley. The Tigers defeated Class 4A-I No. 1 Bishop Miege 35-28 on Friday night behind a big rushing night from senior William Evans. Blue Valley has not defeated Miege in each of the past two seasons after winning 42-35 in 2015. Junction City remains No. 4 in our poll after a 47-0 shutout victory at Emporia. The Blue Jays forced eight Spartan turnovers including five fumbles and three interceptions. Shawnee Mission West remains in the No. 5 spot after scoring with 28 seconds remaining to win at Lawrence Free State, 41-40. Quarterback Zach Witters totaled 523 yards of total offense in the Vikings win, and led West on a the game-winning 70-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter. As you can imagine, Wichita Northwest is laying on the pressure to get into the top 5 after outscoring Bishop Carroll 61-49.
Class 5A
Wichita Northwest’s 61-49 win over Bishop Carroll knocks the Eagles out of the top spot in Class 5A, allowing another familiar name to jump to No. 1. Defending Class 5A champion Mill Valley moves back up to No. 1 after a 35-13 win over last week’s No. 4 St. James Academy. New starting quarterback Brody Flaming passed for 310 yards and five touchdowns in the Jaguars win. St. Thomas Aquinas stays in the No. 2 spot after a 42-13 win over Gardner-Edgerton, whle Carroll falls two spots to No. 3 after the loss to Northwest. Wichita Heights jumps into the top five at No. 4 after an impressive 41-21 home win over Olathe North. Sophomore quarterback K’Vante’ Williams rushed for 251 yards and four touchdowns in the Falcons’ win. Great Bend enters the rankings at No. 5 this week after rolling over Coffeyville, 57-13. Quarterback Jacob Murray rushed for more than 100 yards and three touchdowns, and passed for more than 200 yards and three more scores.
Class 4A-I
Class 4A-I is the only classification where the No. 1 team lost, but remains in the top spot. Bishop Miege has dominated Class 4A-I in recent years and opened 2016 with a 35-28 loss against Class 6A No. 3 Blue Valley. Stag junior quarterback Carter Putz passed for 350 yards and three scores in the game. Andale remains in the No. 2 spot after racing past Andover Central 50-14. The Indians, however, likely lost all-state running back Zach Meyer for the season when he suffered a knee injury on the game’s opening kickoff. Meyer, a Class 4A-II all-state selection last fall, rushed for 1,566 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2015. Buhler remains at No. 3 after a 26-13 win at then No. 5 McPherson. The Crusaders got a short touchdown run from Dalton Brown to put the game away late in the fourth quarter. Maize South is the No. 4 ranked team this week after scoring 59 first-half points in blowing out Towanda-Circle. The Mavericks will travel to McPherson in Week 2. Finally, KC Piper rounds out the top five this week after a hard-fought 23-13 win over Paola. J.J. Letcher rushed for 209 yards and three scores to lead the Pirates to victory.
Class 4A-II
The 4A-II rankings look quite a bit different than a week ago as three of the preseason top five teams lost in Week 1. Top-ranked Topeka Hayden fell against Class 6A Topeka High 30-13. As a result, the Wildcats drop one spot to No. 2 this week and make way for defending champion Holcomb to regain the top spot. The Longhorns got a superb performance from new quarterback Trey Gilbert in their 55-13 win over Cimarron. Gilbert passed for 250 yards and seven touchdowns in his debut, and the Longhorn defense held Cimarron to under 40 yards of total offense on the night. Wichita Collegiate showed signs of rust, but pulled away from Rose Hill for a 41-6 win. The No. 3 Spartans were led by new quarterback Cody McNerney who threw for more than 230 yards and tossed touchdown passes to four different receivers. Frontenac enters the poll this week at No. 4 after the Raiders rolled past Girard 40-12, while Scott City falls three spots to No. 5 after a 31-21 loss to Hays. The Beavers led 21-10 entering the fourth quarter, but turnovers allowed Hays to score 21 points to claim the victory.
Class 3A
Rossville remains on top of the 3A poll after escaping with a 27-20 victory over Marysville to extend their winning streak to 29 consecutive games. Marysville led 20-14 in the fourth quarter before Jacob Bradshaw passed and rushed for a touchdown to give the Rossville the lead. Our voters flipped the places of the No. 2 and No. 3 teams this week as Silver Lake moves up to the No. 2 spot while Norton drops to No. 3. Both teams cruised to opening-week wins with the Eagles beating KC Washington 58-8, and Norton defeating Goodland 42-7. Hoisington comes in at No. 4 this week after a dominating 44-3 win over Kingman. The Cardinals get a home showdown with 4A-II No. 3 Wichita Collegiate this week. Phillipsburg opened the season ranked fifth and responded with a 36-6 win over Clay Center. The Panthers host 2-1A contender Smith Center this week.
Class 2-1A
The Troy Trojans opened the season with a 58-27 win over Valley Heights. Troy’s offense kept the pressure on the Mustangs by scoring 52 points in the first three quarters. Meade moves up to No. 2 this week after a 36-7 win over Hooker (Okla.). Lyndon is up one spot to No. 3 after the Tigers opened with a big 51-16 win over Yates Center. The biggest victory in Class 2-1A in Week 1 went to Plainville as the Cardinals defeated last week’s No. 2 Smith Center, 20-16. Plainville moves into the top five poll this week at No. 4, while Smith Center falls to No. 5. St. Mary’s Colgan falls out of the top five after a 26-20 loss to 3A contender Galena.
Class 8M-I
Top-ranked St. Francis survived a battle with 8M-II ranked Sharon Springs-Wallace County. The Indians prevailed 22-20 to remain in the top spot this week. Defending champion Spearville is closing in on the Indians after a dominating 54-8 win over Hill City. The Lancers get a good test this week against a ranked 8M-II team in Hodgeman County. Burlingame rolled to a season-opening 58-8 win over Southern Coffey County. The Bearcats will get a good test this week against a talented Hartford team. Rural Vista remains at No. 4 this week and the Osborne Bulldogs remain in the No. 5 spot. Rural Vista had little trouble with Peabody-Burns in a 58-8 opening-week win, while Osborne shut out Thunder Ridge 46-0. Osborne could get tested at Beloit St. John’s-Tipton this week.
Class 8M-II
Hanover opened the season with a 22-0 shutout win at Lebo. The Wildcats didn’t put up the points many are accustomed to seeing from a Hanover score, but the defense was excellent in shutting out a Lebo team that returned six starters on each side of the ball. Otis-Bison remains ranked No. 2 this week after the Cougars drilled St. John 54-6. Pike Valley remains in the No. 3 spot this week after a 54-26 win over Lakeside-Downs. Lane Peters led the Panthers with 171 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Hodgeman County introduced Leoti-Wichita County to 8-man football by shutting out the Indians, 46-0. The No. 4 Longhorns get a much tougher test this week at 8M-I No. 2 Spearville. After Sharon Springs-Wallace County’s 22-20 loss to 8M-I St. Francis, the Wildcats drop only one spot to No. 5 in this week’s poll.
Visit the Rankings page each week to view a complete list of the top five teams in each classification and how they performed last week.
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