Norton defensive lineman Christien Hawks was “so proud” of his team after the season-opening 16-14 home win versus Mid-Continent League rival Smith Center last Friday. Hawks, a KU commit, played extremely well with two tackles for loss in a game that wasn’t decided until inside the final minute.
Hawks was pleased with several areas, including freshmen and sophomores stepping up on defense. He liked the senior night festivities that allowed him to be honored for both football and band.
And Hawks was also knowledgeable of the state rankings. Norton was just outside the top-5 in 2A. Hawks mentioned the rankings more than once postgame.
“We beat No. 2 in 1A,” Hawks said. “I mean, come on, that speaks for itself. That’s amazing.”
Hawks and his team delivered a rare feat after the first week of Kansas high school football. KPreps ranks 43 teams – five in each of the six 11-man classes and two eight-man classes and the top-three in six-man.
In Week 1, five ranked teams faced each other. Seven squads didn’t play because of COVID-19, all but one of those in 4-6A. The other ranked teams went a combined 25-1.
This week, nearly all of Kansas returns to the gridiron, including top-5 ranked teams in the Olathe school district, Wichita public schools and the three K.C. private schools (Miege, Aquinas, and St. James). All three private schools are ranked.
While several ranked Week 1 teams, notably 5A No. 4 Bishop Carroll, 5A No. 5 De Soto and 3A No. 5 Southeast of Saline, delivered close victories versus non-ranked teams, a key area that KPreps will watch in Week 2 is whether upsets will rise.
2020 was the fewest upsets and highest winning percentage by top-5 ranked teams against non-ranked teams in Week 1 in the last five years.
In ’16, ranked went 24-6 against unranked. In ’17, ranked delivered a 24-8 record against unranked. In ’18, ranked finished 24-3 versus unranked. Last season, ranked went 28-4 against unranked teams in Week 1.
Overall, ranked teams have a Week 1 record of 125-22 (85 percent) against non-ranked teams in the last five years.
A key reason for the more upsets in ’16-17 came because of Class 4A, Division II. After ’17, Class 4A went back to one division.
In ’16, three 4A-II ranked teams (Topeka Hayden, Scott City, Holton) lost to non-ranked teams (Topeka High, Hays High, Atchison) in Week 1. While Hayden and Holton’s losses came against high-quality opponents, HHS’ win versus Scott City was a big surprise and remained one of the biggest upsets all season.
In ’17, Hayden again lost to 6A Topeka, the only 4A-II team to fall.
Upsets generally also occur in 2-1A/1A, the state’s smallest 11-man class.
After ’17, Class 2-1A went to 1A, though had many of the same teams. In the last five years, 2-1A/1A has accounted for six of the upsets, including Friday’s.
However, the remaining 12 upsets are a mixture of classes and geographic areas, a trend that could yield upsets this Friday.
In ’16, in the Wichita area, Wichita Northwest beat 5A No. 1 Bishop Carroll, 61-49. The Wichita Public Schools start Saturday. Northwest, ranked No. 2 in 5A, gets unranked Wichita West.
In ’17, the City League was part of another upset when Wichita Heights, ranked No. 3 in 5A, lost to Olathe North. Mill Valley, No. 2 in 5A, fell to St. James Academy in the Eastern Kansas League.
In Class 3A, Rossville and Hesston, ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, both lost to non-ranked teams.
In Eight-Man, Division I, Victoria defeated rival Central Plains, 34-8. CP was preseason No. 1.
In ’18, Gardner-Edgerton, coming off an 0-9 season, delivered a then-shocker versus Shawnee Mission East, ranked fifth in 6A. Pratt defeated Hoisington, then ranked fifth in 3A.
Last year featured four upsets. In EKL play, Blue Valley West defeated Mill Valley, ranked No. 4 in 5A. Spring Hill beat Louisburg, No. 4 in 4A.
Ness City ended Central Plains’ 13-game winning streak in Eight-Man, Division I. CP was ranked fourth. Those three games were decided by a combined 16 points.
South Barber, fourth in Eight-Man, Division II, fell to Cherokee (Okla.).
This week, there’s a bevy of high-quality ranked versus non-ranked matchups. Several of these, particularly Junction City/Manhattan (No. 4 6A); Topeka Hayden (No. 3 3A) at Topeka Seaman, and Holton (No. 4 3A) at Chapman, and Chase County versus Lebo (No. 4 8-Man II) were previewed earlier this week at KPreps.
Notably, JC/Manhattan is playing for the Silver Trophy, a rivalry that dates back more than 70 years. Ten of the last 11 games in the series are within single digits. Seaman beat Hayden every year from ’16-18.
KPreps looks at several other possibilities for upsets below, including a deeper dive into the return of the Olathe North (No. 5 6A) and Olathe South rivalry.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel (1-0) vs. Bishop Carroll (1-0, No. 4 5A) – The Holy War continues in Wichita. Kapaun dominated Dodge City in Week 1, while Carroll stopped a late two-point conversion to beat Junction City. Carroll has won every football Holy War since 1999.
Louisburg (1-0) vs. Tonganoxie (1-0, No. 3 4A) – The pair of Frontier League teams are generally among the ranked 4A squads. Both have key transfers. Louisburg has Olathe South’s Alec Younggren, a first team all-league player. Younggren’s family has a ranch in Louisburg, and he transferred in the offseason. Tonganoxie, after the best season in school history, has new transfers in running back Tyler Bowden (Lawrence Free State) and linebacker Branden Martin (K.C. Piper). The teams have split meetings the last two seasons.
Nemaha Central (No. 5 2A, 0-1) at Eudora (1-0) – NC lost on a last-second field goal to Holton last week. Real credit to the Thunder for not shying away from scheduling difficult opponents once schedules shifting in the pandemic. Eudora, a 4A squad, opened with a 35-6 win versus Baldwin.
Pawnee Heights (1-0) at Ashland (1-0, 6-man No. 3) – Ashland defeated Burrton, 64-18, and PH, with a new coach, has its second-long road trip in as many weeks. The Tigers opened with a 64-26 road win versus Deerfield. PH won, 58-46, last season.
“Old-school Olathe North” - Palmer, Love, Phillips leading new-look Eagles
Perhaps no team has encountered more upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic this summer than Olathe North. The Eagles have eight state championships, tied for fifth in state annals. Last year, ON had Arland Bruce IV, who accounted for 48 offensive touchdowns as a junior. Olathe North finished as 6A state runner-up.
In the spring, coach Chris McCartney tried to stay in contact with his players as often as possible with texts and emails, including a couple of group texts a week. McCartney called if he heard a player was struggling.
Olathe North started June 15 and had 10 days of conditioning. ON took off the week of July Fourth. Then, the Eagles came back July 6 and had 20 days of conditioning. ON took off the first week in August. The Eagles then couldn’t come back to the field until practice started Aug. 17. Olathe North had four or five days of practice before shut down again. ON checked in and checked out helmets several times.
McCartney, at Olathe North since ’96, said the kids “got confused.” He labeled the situation “very stressful” and “been a struggle.” Bruce and ON’s top-two receivers, Mario Sanchez and Dale Stout, all transferred.
McCartney said the Eagles had very limited COVID-19 exposure, notably one player. A player’s relative got COVID-19. The player, who had at most minimal symptoms, quarantined. He got a negative test and re-entered the program.
“Sitting there concerned about the kids, and their mentality, how we are going to get back in the swing of things, and it’s just been really, really worrisome,” he said. “It’s been tough.”
On Friday, Olathe North opens at home versus longtime rival Olathe South, located just 3.6 miles away. ON has won six straight in the series dating back to ’11. However, three of those wins are by a combined nine points. The teams first matched up in ’81, the first fall the schools opened, according to Kansas Football History database.
“I am just glad we’ve got a game to work towards,” he said.
However, McCartney, 39-18 in his sixth year as head coach, is pleased with his current roster. North has discussed how past teams have continued to have elite success after legendary players and coaches graduated. ON had running back Darren Sproles from 1998-00, who went on to star at Kansas State and in NFL.
Maurice Mack took over the next season, cleared 2,000 rushing yards and ON won state in ’01, ’02 and ‘03. Coaching-wise, Gene Wier, the architect of ON’s dynasty, left and rejoined the program. Pete Flood was head coach, resigned and is back on staff as an assistant.
“After Darren graduated, we won a lot of state championships,” McCartney said. “We lost Coach Wier and then he came back. We lost coach Flood and he came back. You are never bigger than the program I don’t think.
“If I didn’t talk about the kids I have – I have got more than 100 kids – and if I spent my time talking about the ones who are gone, I am doing the kids that I have a disservice,” he added. “I love all those kids that left, and I wish them the best. It’s a terrible situation. … I am just really glad that we have those kids that stayed, and we are going to work our butts off and try and play some North football.”
Olathe North was fifth in 6A in offense at 40.5 points a contest and No. 16 in defense with 25 points allowed. However, four of the top-six tacklers return.
“The kids do it to themselves,” McCartney said. “They expect to be the next person, the next guy.”
Junior Noah Palmer recorded 118 tackles, second-highest and tops among returners.
“He doesn’t say a word,” McCartney said. “But his work ethic says volumes.”
Palmer is expected to play free safety and quarterback. He started at free safety last season.
“He is an old-school Olathe North, just really tough,” McCartney said. “I mean, there’s been several times where we have had a free safety that played quarterback or a linebacker that played quarterback, and he’s just one of those tough kids. He’s not fancy. He’s not going to blow your socks off with anything, but if it comes down to trying to win a ball game, he’s going to try his best to make you look bad, and I think he’s just a really good competitor, and really smart football player.”
Junior running back Quantez Love transferred from Oklahoma and is expected to step into a major role. Love already has offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, Arkansas, Kansas and Maryland, according to recruiting leader 247 Sports.
In practice Wednesday, Love caught a ball where McCartney said most people would have drifted out of bounds. Instead, Love planted and stayed inbounds.
“He’s really very coachable kid,” McCartney said. “He listens well. He’s really focused – ‘Hey you need to do this.’ And he’s ‘Yes sir, no sir,’ that kind of thing. His eyes are focused on you. You can tell that it is really important to him. He’s fast. Once he gets going. But we were just talking about how explosive he is.”
McCartney labeled senior outside linebacker Abram Phillips well-spoken and “a really good leader.” Phillips finished with 80 tackles. ON has some younger defensive linemen and a Mark Waller, a move-in from Winnetonka, in north Kansas City, Mo.
“He’s vocal,” McCartney said of Phillips. “He knows what we do. He’s a two-year starter, very intelligent. He helps quite a bit.”
Smith leads Olathe South
Olathe South went 5-5 and 2-7 in the last two falls and dealt with a high number of injuries. Key players such as leading tackler Tony Lunson and running back Andrew Nehrbass missed chunks of time in ’19. Coach Craig Lewis, with more than 30 years of experience, went to visit his mother for her 82nd birthday in Dallas over Labor Day weekend.
Lewis believed OS was going to get cancelled. His plane just landed last Thursday when he received word OS would play. Lewis said it was “quite shocking” and had about 20 messages. He came back late Sunday night and planned practice for Monday. Olathe North/South was not the original Week 2 game. As well, Lewis previously had information earlier in the summer South was not going to play until the 17th.
“Started changing my plans really quick,” he said.
O. South returns senior Reed Smith, a multi-year starter at quarterback. He has posted 4.78 in the 40-yard dash with a 31-inch vertical. Lewis said Smith did not miss a single summer workout or camp, except one time when he went to a college camp.
“He’s there,” Lewis said. “He’s emotional. He has a lot of fun. The kids follow him, they believe in him, and he’s matured so much. He’s gotten in great shape even though we haven’t been in the weight room since March, he’s found a weight room that he has been in the whole time. Reed’s doing a great job. We look for him to have a fantastic season.”
Keep an eye on the state’s current longest streaks (by classification):
Current Longest Winning Streaks:
Class 6A
Three tied – 1 game
(Lawrence, Manhattan, Haysville Campus)
Class 5A
Mill Valley – 10 games
Class 4A
Bishop Miege – 6 games
Class 3A
Andale – 14
Class 2A
Erie – 3 games
Atchison County – 3 games
Class 1A
Several tied – 1
(Sedgwick, Ell-Saline, Oakley, Plainville, Jeff Co. North, Valley Heights, Central Heights, Lyndon, Olpe, Uniontown)
Class 8M-I
Canton-Galva – 14
Class 8M-II
Logan-Palco – 2
Wilson – 2
6-Man
Moscow – 11
Current Longest Losing Streaks:
Class 6A
Wichita North – 16 games
Class 5A
Topeka Highland Park – 52 games
Class 4A
Abilene – 11 games
Ottawa – 9 games
Class 3A
Bishop Ward – 57 games
Baldwin – 15 games
Baxter Springs – 10 games
Class 2A
Neodesha – 6
West Franklin – 5
Lyons – 4
Class 1A
Horton – 21 games
Wichita Independent – 20 games
Class 8-Man, Division I
St. John – 22 games
Class 8-Man, Division II
Linn – 12 games
6-Man
Western Plains – 27 games
Burrton – 27 games
Tribune-Greeley Co. – 11 games
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