Friday Five: The best Wichita-area high school Round 1 playoff football games

Posted by Admin November 1, 2024 Football

WICHITA, Kan. (Catch it Kansas) – This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. And it’s not even just one moment — it’s many moments that last weeks and culminate in approximately 214 teams in Kansas being crowned state football champions.

OK, it’s not quite that many. But let’s just say there are enough classes in Kansas that it won’t be difficult finding (at least) five games to highlight in this space during each week of the playoffs.

But before we can get to those nine football teams raising trophies and keeping every metal company in the tri-state area profitable for the next 12 months, we have to get through Round 1. There are a lot of mismatches in the opening round, and half of the teams in Kansas will see their seasons end this week. But there are also some games we’d like to spotlight, so let’s get started.

Topeka Washburn Rural (3-5) at Maize (4-4), Class 6A

Remember how every week of the Friday Five during the regular season featured teams on winning streaks or teams that rarely lost? Well, this week won’t be that. But it will be the first appearance of Maize, a team we’ve been itching to talk about.

Since an 0-4 start, Maize has rattled off four straight wins in which the Eagles have outscored their opponents 221-44. That’s a lot of points against not that many points, for those still figuring out how math plays into this column.

Despite those one-sided scores, Maize doesn’t feature a player who will overwhelm you statistically. Three runners average between 47-51 rushing yards, its leading receiver, Bryson Hayes, is under 500 yards, and quarterback Brayden Myovela has thrown just eight touchdowns.

What the Eagles do well is keep coming at you with an active defense and enough weapons to give themselves option with the ball.

On a different end of the spectrum is Washburn Rural, which doesn’t have an eye-popping win but has some quality losses, if there is such a thing. The teams that handed Rural its five losses have a combined 24-9 record. The Junior Blues are limping into the postseason with consecutive losses, including a 56-14 defeat by Manhattan last week.

Hays (4-4) at Andover (4-4), Class 5A

This feels like a game that might be decided by a half a point, if that were possible.

Hays has hung with some of the best teams in the state, with a 34-30 loss to Manhattan in a Week 3 game that was decided in the final seconds and a 20-19 loss to Liberal last week. Those teams are a combined 14-2.

Andover, meanwhile, has rebounded from a winless 2023 with a solid season that could have been much better. The Trojans lost by seven to Kapaun Mount Carmel, by one to Goddard and by four to Goddard Eisenhower.

We’re told that one team has to win this game, but it’ll probably be a heartbreaker either way. If you’re a fan of either team, pace yourself.

The last meeting between these teams was in the 2021 postseason, where Hays won 18-6 to end Andover’s 7-3 season. The Trojans went on to lose 14 of their next 17 games before righting the ship this year. They’ll face a challenge in a Hays defense that includes Slade Salmans, Tanner Geist and Kamani Jones.

Salina Central (4-4) at Maize South (5-3), Class 5A

Salina Central, which entered 2024 with high hopes before subsequently losing every game that really mattered on its 2024 schedule, pulled one of the most surprising upsets of the season last week, beating Goddard 52-24. Goddard, we thought, was generally in the same class as Eisenhower, Andover and Andover Central, which beat Central by a combined 103-49 score.

Maize South hasn’t yet found an outlet for reversing its fortunes in big games. After a 5-0 start, the Mavericks have lost their last three games, to Maize, Derby and Hutchinson, by an average of nearly 30 points.

But let’s talk positives, shall we? Maize South senior Tate McNew is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the state, with 1,751 passing yards and 19 touchdown passes with only three interceptions. He’s also run for four touchdowns.

McNew’s favorite receiver is Landon Gatto, who is over 1,000 yards with 11 touchdowns. The Mustangs counter with an offense led by 1,000-yard rusher Cooper Reeves. Senior Jack Gordon has thrown 14 touchdown passes.

One of these teams is going to lose tonight and look back at the season and wonder what could have been.

Goodland (4-4) at Hesston (7-1), Class 3A

We don’t feature teams out of the area in the Friday Five, so this is our first opportunity to talk about Linkon Cure, who has overcome an unfortunate spelling of his first name to become the top tight end in Kansas.

Cure, for whom there is ironically no antidote, is averaging 17.3 yards on his 46 catches, with 13 touchdowns. He also has 206 rushing yards and five more touchdowns. Cure is going to K-State next year, where he’ll make an exciting offense even more must-watch.

Alas, one player does not a team make, so Goodland will have to execute some level of a turnaround to advance far in the playoffs. The Cowboys have dropped two in a row, including a 48-9 loss to Scott City two weeks ago.

Hesston had the makings of a dream season squashed last week when it fell to Andale 60-14 to stop a seven-game losing streak. It’s impossible to know what to expect from Hesston, whose seven wins came against teams that, as of last week, all had between two and four wins. And hey, Goodland has four wins, so maybe the Swathers should feel good about this matchup.

Hesston running back Karter Gonzales is closing in on 1,000 yards, and he also leads the team in tackles. Sources say yards and tackles are important aspects of football, so he should be proud of helping lead Hesston to this point.

Smith Center (4-4) at Medicine Lodge (5-2), Class 1A

This is just a game that jumped out at us. Here you have Medicine Lodge, a team without a state championship but which played in the 1A semifinals last year. And on the other side is Smith Center, a near perennial powerhouse that is having an uncharacteristically so-so season.

Do you know the last time Smith Center entered the playoffs with a .500 record? Well, we’re not exactly sure either. The times Smith Center has finished .500 in the last 40 years or so, it has missed the playoffs altogether. That’s not possible anymore, though.

Smith Center has a lot of championships, several under legendary coach Roger Barta, who first led Smith Center to a title in 1982. Championships followed in 1986, 1999, 2004-08, and 2017-18 under former coach Darren Sasse. Smith Center hasn’t finished below .500 since 2002, and before that it was 1981.

In a career with Smith Center that spanned 1978-2012, Barta won eight titles and finished with 323 wins. Smith Center’s 79-game winning streak between 2004-09 is a state record stopped by Centralia in the 2009 title game.

That’s a lot of Smith Center history, but it’s a school that deserves its nod to history. This year’s team enters with a four-game winning streak, Medicine Lodge has won three in a row after consecutive losses to Conway Springs and Sterling. The last times the teams met, Smith Center won 84-7 on its way to the 2017 state championship.