Joe Simon and Jon Webster have been friends for quite a while. The two played football together at Dodge City Community College, and in recent years the friends have met in Hays on Sundays to eat and watch the Kansas City Chiefs.
They’re such good friends they’ve even promised to meet this Sunday.
You see, Simon coaches the Plainville Cardinals and Webster leads the LaCrosse Leopards. The two unbeaten Class 2-1A squads will battle Friday night in LaCrosse for the District 6 championship. The clash was voted as the Kpreps.com Game of the Week.
“We’ve been friends for a while,” Simon said. “We text and talk a lot.
“We still met this past Sunday, and we were trying to pry information out of each other. We’ll definitely be there again this Sunday, regardless of the outcome.”
And while both teams obviously want to win, each team is headed to the playoffs no matter who wins Friday.
“I was trying to get a little information out of him,” Webster joked. “He told me that they’re going to run a 5-2 on defense and run the trap at us on offense. I said, ‘Thanks for the insight.’
“We’ll see how Friday shakes out. The good thing is that we’re both going to the playoffs.”
Each team has made it to the playoffs by dominating its opposition. The Cardinals and Leopards have won every game by more than two touchdowns.
However, the two teams have very different backgrounds. Plainville finished 3-6 a year ago and just 1-8 in 2009. LaCrosse was 10-1 last season and made it to the second round of the playoffs before losing to eventual state champion Meade.
Even though this is the Cardinals’ breakthrough season, Webster said he saw this coming.
“The turnaround he’s done there is remarkable,” Webster said. “But we’ve known they’re a good team for a while. They were a lot better than their record last year. They had us on the ropes.”
Plainville’s success has come by playing smash-mouth football. The Cardinals rush for 375 yards per game and have three players with more than 600 yards rushing on the season.
Junior running back Trevor Axelson leads the way with 1,045 yards and nine touchdowns on only 91 carries. Junior fullback Harrison Gilliland boasts 746 yards and 12 TDs on only 78 carries. Junior running back Dalton Werner has 662 rushing yards and nine TDs on only 60 carries.
The Cardinals have attempted only 33 passes all season.
“They are a really good team,” Webster said. “They’re going to run a lot of misdirection. They’re strong on both sides of the ball. They’re so physical. They can wear you out. We’re going to have to be really focused.”
The Leopards’ offense starts with senior quarterback Tayler Stull. The signal caller has completed 36-of-66 passes for 755 yards and 11 touchdowns, while rushing for 836 yards and 16 TDs on only 75 carries.
“Stull is a great player,” Simon said. “Offensively, we need to control the clock to keep their offense off the field.”
Stull has lots of weapons to work with. Junior running back Levi Morrs has rushed for 826 yards and 15 TDs on 91 carries, while junior running back Kip Keeley has rushed for 605 yards and seven TDs on 57 carries. Senior Austin Webs has been the team’s big-play threat with nine catches for 353 yards and five TDs.
Plainville will have the difficult task of trying to slow LaCrosse’s offense down.
“This game is very important to our team and our football program,” Simon said. “The community has been looking to this game for a while. We knew LaCrosse was waiting at the end of the year.”
No matter the outcome, the two coaches will be in Hays this Sunday.
And no matter the outcome, both teams still have a chance of being in Hays on Nov. 26 for the state championship game.
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