The first chapter of the 2011 Kansas high school football season has almost come to a close as district play will be in full swing in all classifications beginning next week.
Coaches across the state will inevitably dust off their “everybody’s 0-0 and back to square one” speech, while hope returns to those schools that may have underperformed to this point.
But before we look forward to playoff scenarios and points tiebreakers; here is our initial observations and highlights from Week 6
The Kpreps.com Game of the Week between 3A #3 Scott City and 4A #4 Ulysses was postponed due to lightning, which caused havoc in a number of games in the southwest corner of the state. A number of games in the area were either called final as early as halftime or were postponed until Saturday. The Beavers and Tigers will settle their tussle on Saturday at 1pm.
Other games impacted by weather include Holcomb and Lakin which will resume on Saturday at 4pm with the score tied at 7; Hoxie and WaKeeney-Trego which was postponed until Saturday; and Spearville and Deerfield which has been postponed until Monday night at 6pm.
Wichita East’s match-up with Garden City was cancelled, and will not be made up.
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The marquee game in Class 6A turned into a mild upset as fifth-ranked Olathe South knocked off second-ranked Olathe North, 29-10. The Falcons used a safety and a kickoff return for a touchdown to build a 15-7 halftime lead. The Eagles would add a field goal in the third quarter to pull closer, but South would pull away with touchdown runs by quarterback Frankie Suerer and Fritz Wilbur in the fourth quarter. The South defense slowed Eagle running backs Orange Mooney and Treshawn Root to a combined 160 yards rushing.
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The highly anticipated rematch between McPherson and Gardner-Edgerton went the way of the Trailblazers, 41-21. The belief that McPherson may struggle against the physical running attack of Gardner-Edgerton turned out to be a reality. Sophomore Traevohn Wrench rushed for 223 yards and four scores as the Blazers built a two-score lead by halftime. Bullpup quarterback Tyler Matthews threw two touchdown passes to Austin O’Bannon, but had an interception returned 72 yards for a touchdown by Trailblazer linebacker Brent Bovitz.
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The battle of unbeatens in the Kaw Valley League went to the visiting Basehor-Linwood Bobcats who doubled-up Mill Valley, 42-21. Quarterback Colin Murphy threw for more than 200 yards and two touchdowns, and added a pair of short rushing touchdowns as the Bobcats used a 20-point second quarter to pull away. Mill Valley junior quarterback Skyler Windmiller finished with 250 yards through the air with all three Jaguar touchdowns.
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In a surprise in the WAC, Hays went on the road and routed Dodge City 56-14. The Indians racked up nearly 500 yards on the ground in the game. Hays was aided by Dodge City mistakes as the Red Demons failed to cover two pooch kickoffs which led to a 28-0 first quarter lead for the visitors.
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Having lost two straight, St. Thomas Aquinas knew things were not going to get any easier as they traveled south to take on the top-ranked Webb City Cardinals of Missouri Class 4. They didn’t. Phoenix Johnson and Jamison Cady each rushed for a pair of touchdowns as Webb City shutout the Saints 35-0 to win their 77th consecutive regular season game.
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The Topeka Hayden Wildcats scored 28 points in the second quarter en route to a 42-15 win against Shawnee Heights. Jason Tetuan led the Wildcats with 138 yards rushing and two TDs on only four carries. His outing included a 95-yard TD run in the second quarter.
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After missing three games due to injury, Michael Glatczak has turned in back-to-back big rushing performances to help Centralia get back on the winning track. Glatczak rushed for nearly 300 yards and two scores last week, and added 222 yards and four scores on Friday night as the Panthers rolled to a 58-14 non-district win over St. Marys.
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Congratulations to Leon-Bluestem which ended a 29-game losing streak with a 29-0 shutout of Wichita Independent. The Lions last win came on September 19, 2008 when they edged Belle Plain, 15-12 to snap a 69 game losing streak.
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Joe Wimmer threw touchdown passes of 64 and 55 yards as Pittsburg won the outright SEK League title with a 27-14 win over previously unbeaten Fort Scott. Wimmer also added a pair of short touchdown runs as the Purple Dragons improved to 5-1. Tied at 14, the Tigers lost a key fumble at the Purple Dragon 10-yard line with just over two minutes remaining until halftime. Pittsburg promptly turned that miscue into points with a 55-yard TD strike from Wimmer to Dillon O’Dell a few plays later to take the lead for good.
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Caney Valley won the battle of Tri-Valley League unbeatens by outscoring Neodesha 30-0 in the second half to claim a 44-14 win.
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Defending 4A champion Louisburg lost another heart-breaker in the Frontier League, 34-33 to Baldwin. The Wildcats led 20-18 at halftime before Baldwin would take a 26-20 lead on a Dayton Valentine run. Louisburg star Garrett Griffin would then take over rushing for a pair of touchdown runs, but the PAT on the second score was blocked leaving Louisburg ahead 33-26. The Bulldogs would respond with a touchdown pass from Chad Berg to Cornell Brown, and Berg’s two-point conversion gave Baldwin the one-point win.
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Pretty Prairie “held” Kiowa County’s Ross Binford to 284 yards and three touchdowns as the Bulldogs doubled-up the Mavericks 44-22 in District 5. Binford's effort tonight came on the heels of back-to-back 400-plus yard nights the previous two weeks. He now has 1,888 yards rushing this season. The Bulldogs rebounded nicely from last week’s second-half meltdown against Macksville to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot.
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Moundridge ended Herington’s bid for an unbeaten season with a 59-24 rout of the Railers. Even more important is that the Wildcats moved to 2-0 in 2-1A District 5 with Sacred Heart and winless Bennington left on their district schedule.
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The Playoff picture in District 6 of 8-Man Division II suddenly became more clear as Moscow throttled Dighton 64-14. The Wildcats maintained their ridiculous scoring numbers as Breck Roop scored five times. Through six weeks in the season, Moscow is still averaging 74 points per game.
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