East: Columbus (7-2) at Burlington (6-3)
The Columbus Titans, who opened the season as one of the favorites in 4A Division, will have to go on the road to face the Burlington Wildcats in the first round of the playoffs.
Columbus won its first five games of the season but finished 2-2 down the stretch, falling to 3A’s fifth-ranked Galena and to district rival Frontenac.
Last year, the Titans were upset in the first round by the Girard Trojans.
Columbus’ offense starts on the ground with senior running back Keenan Stanley, who has rushed for 1,206 yards and 13 touchdowns on 131 carries. Sophomore Grayson Walden has added 541 yards and six touchdowns on 87 carries.
Senior quarterback Ridge Smith has passed for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns with five interceptions. Kale Smith leads the receivers with 18 catches for 381 yards and six touchdowns. Zach Porter leads the Titans defense with 55 tackles and three interceptions.
Burlington is in the playoffs for the first time since 2014 when it lost in the first round to Frontenac.
This season, the Wildcats have suffered losses to Santa Fe Trail, 2-1A’s Olpe and 3A’s Rossville. Burlington enters the postseason on a three-game winning streak, earning lopsided district victories over Iola, Girard and Anderson County.
Using the Wing T offense, the Wildcats rushed for 336.3 yards per game. Senior Connor Jeffers leads the way with 1,712 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns on 207 carries. He’s also passed for 589 yards and six touchdowns.
Sophomore Cael Johnson has rushed for 492 yards, gaining 10.9 yards per carry. Senior Garrison Fielder has 15 receptions for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Tucker Whitworth paces the defense with 95 tackles.
Expect Columbus to be motivated to avoid another first-round playoff loss.
Columbus 29, Burlington 22 (Schremmer)
West: Wichita Collegiate (5-4) at No. 4 Smoky Valley (8-1)
Smoky Valley coach Tim Lambert is 183-82 in his career, including 16-4 in the last two years with the Vikings, behind a run-heavy wishbone attack, a very similar offense he ran as Smith Center’s quarterback in the ‘80s. Lambert has achieved great success at St. Francis, Concordia and Smoky Valley.
The Vikings have averaged 286 rushing yards a contest. Senior Kyle Anderson has rushed for 2,647 yards the last two seasons, including 165 carries for 1,211 yards and 17 scores.
Anderson has seven 100-yard rushing games. Smoky Valley only lost to Larned, 28-14, in Week 2. Except for a rain-shortened game against Lyons in Week 6, the Vikings have rushed for at least 221 yards in every contest.
Smoky Valley has averaged 6.2 yards per play, including 5.8 rushing.
Last year, the Vikings went 8-3 and committed 14 turnovers with 5.5 yards per rush and 285 rushing yards a game. This year, the Vikings has just seven turnovers.
Wichita Collegiate, preseason No. 1 in Class 4A, Division II, is just 5-4 with a total margin of 248-232.
However, the Spartans have played the No. 2-hardest strength of schedule in the classification, while Smoky Valley has played the second-easiest. Smokey Valley has a total margin of 304-118.
Collegiate quarterback Cody McNerney has enjoyed another all-state caliber year with 107 for 208 passing for 1,715 yards with an 18/3 TD/INT ratio.
He has nearly quadruple the second-leading Spartan rusher with 116 carries for 806 yards and nine scores. Collegiate has averaged 6.7 yards per play. The Spartans are just plus-1 in turnover margin. Four players have between 12 and 20 catches.
The Spartans have lost four games to Buhler (47-21), Mulvane (35-19), Andale (35-7), Nickerson (48-14), prolific offenses with great running games. Collegiate last lost in the first round in 2013 with a 47-45 defeat to Mulvane. Smoky Valley’s running game must be physical to get the win.
Smoky Valley 24, Collegiate 20 (Nicholl)
The rest of our 4A-II first-round picks:
Prairie View (4-5) at No. 3 Topeka Hayden (5-4) – Hayden
Holton (6-3) at Baldwin (6-3) – Holton
Girard (4-5) at Frontenac (6-3) – Frontenac
Clay Center (6-3) at No. 5 Nickerson (7-2) – Nickerson
Kingman (5-4) at No. 1 Scott City (9-0) – Scott City
Colby (6-3) at No. 2 Holcomb (8-1) – Holcomb
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