The Eagle’s 56th annual Top 11 football team

JAFAR ARMSTRONG

Bishop Miege WR

Senior

An explosive athlete packed into a 6-foot-1, 205-pound frame, Armstrong was a lethal deep threat with his speed in his senior season. He logged at least 50 catches, 1,200 receiving yards, and nine touchdowns in each of the past three seasons and finished with a combined 172 catches, 3,744 yards, and 45 touchdowns. He has verbally committed to Missouri.

Armstrong saved arguably the best game of his career for his last, catching eight passes for a career-high 222 yards and three touchdowns in Miege’s 53-21 victory over Buhler this season in the Class 4A-Div. I championship game. It was the third straight championship for Miege.

In his senior season, Armstrong finished with 54 catches, 1,277 receiving yards (career-high) and 21 touchdowns (career-high). He caught a touchdown pass in 12 of 13 games this season and 21 of his final 26 games. Armstrong was a semifinalist for the Simone Award, given to Kansas City’s most outstanding player, and a finalist for the Otis Taylor Award, given to the most outstanding receiver.

Coach Jon Holmes: “This year he really wanted to take it to a new level and I think he did. I thought the last game he played (in the state championship game) was one of the best games he’s ever played. He’s got the size and the speed. He can stretch the defense, he can beat you over the top, and he can beat you by running underneath routes. And then he could really do a lot with the ball in his hands after the catch. He’s just a very special player.”

JACOB BRADSHAW

Rossville QB-CB

Senior

Bradshaw led Rossville to its third straight Class 3A championship with a 12-1 record and did so by posting some staggering offensive numbers. Bradshaw led Kansas in rushing with 2,734 yards this season to go along with 1,774 passing yards and 56 total touchdowns.

This was the first season for Bradshaw (6-foot, 180 pounds) to play quarterback after sitting behind Tucker Horak, who rushed for 2,859 yards and threw for 2,070 yards with 77 touchdowns last season. Trying to follow a season like that was no easy task, but Bradshaw was able to handle the pressure.

Bradshaw played his best games in the playoffs. In Rossville’s five playoff victories, Bradshaw finished with 1,206 rushing yards (241.2 average) and 672 passing yards with 19 touchdowns. He rushed for 281 yards and five touchdowns in a thrilling come-from-behind 48-42 victory over Hesston in double overtime in the Class 3A championship game.

Coach Derek Hammes: “We knew going into this season what his attributes were. He knew he was a smart player and he was athletic. When he gets in the open field, he can run away from people. What we didn’t know was about his experience and how he would handle things under pressure and make the reads that he needed to make in our offense. I had a pretty good indication he would be a good player for us, but I didn’t know he would be this good. The numbers are so difficult to wrap your head around with the numbers that position has put up for us the last few years.”

KODY GONZALEZ

Goddard RB

Senior

Gonzalez earned the nickname “The Chu Chu Train” during his senior season because of his punishing style of running. Instead of running around defenders, he tried to run over them. Adding over 20 pounds in the off-season helped make Gonzalez (5-foot-11, 200 pounds) one of the most physical runners around on one of the most physical teams around.

After rushing for more than 1,400 yards last season, Gonzalez followed that up by breaking the school record for rushing yards in a season with 1,866 yards this season and 18 rushing touchdowns. He was also a threat catching out of the backfield, as five of his nine catches went for touchdowns.

Goddard won 11 games and played for the Class 5A championship this season after winning a combined 11 games the previous three seasons. Gonzalez rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns in the championship game, a 35-34 loss to Mill Valley in double overtime.

Coach Scott Vang: “More than anything else, it was his work ethic and his want-to. He got bigger, faster, stronger in the off-season and really built his body. He didn’t want to be taken down by just one guy. He wanted to run through a whole bunch of guys. I think he could have ended up with around 2,500 yards, but he didn’t play very much in the fourth quarter because we were ahead in a lot of those games.”

COLIN GRUNHARD

Bishop Miege OL

Senior

Grunhard had the brute strength (6-foot-1, 275 pounds) and agility to be dominant as he anchored Miege’s line from his center position. Miege averaged nearly 49 points and over 400 yards of offense in his senior season, as it finished with a 12-1 record and its third straight Class 4A-Div. I championship.

A standout lineman for the past three seasons, Miege has averaged 50.5 points and more than 195 rushing yards per game with Grunhard on the line. He also has the versatility to take snaps at either guard and tackle position. Grunhard was named a finalist for the Bobby Bell Award, given to Kansas City’s best small-class lineman or linebacker.

Grunhard’s father, Tim, played for the Kansas City Chiefs during the 1990s and started 164 games at center, the third-most in franchise history for an offensive lineman.

Coach Jon Holmes: “We were able to rely on him winning those 1-on-1 matchups and that allowed us to do a lot of other things because of it. Whenever we needed a block at the point of attack, we were running right over him, whether it was pulling him or blocking in front. He did all of our line calls and pass protection checks, so he was like the quarterback of the offensive line. He even came in and played some snaps on defense in the state championship game and made a big play on third down. He’s just a really smart football player.”

CUTTAR HUSS

Troy WR-FS

Senior

Troy won the Class 2-1A championship with a perfect 13-0 record with Huss as the team’s top player. He finished his senior season with 74 receptions for 1,253 yards and 17 touchdowns on offense and 65 tackles and five interceptions on defense.

Huss finished his standout career with 185 receptions, 2,809 yards, and 40 touchdowns — all program records. He also finished with 18 interceptions, another school record, and added one more record with his 61 career touchdowns scored.

Huss (6-foot, 170 pounds) was not only a threat catching the ball, as Troy found different ways to funnel the ball his way. Huss finished with 717 rushing yards last season and added 425 more yards this season on mostly end arounds and sweeps.

Coach Derek Jasper: “What really stands out about Cuttar is just his versatility. We put him out at slot receiver and we rely heavily on him in the passing game, but also our rushing attack. He can score from any spot on the field and then he would make big plays for us at the free safety spot and in the return game. It’s hard to describe how much of a natural he was, but he just looks good at whatever he’s doing. He looks like a natural and he makes it look easy.”

MICHAEL MAFFRY

Blue Valley LB

Senior

Maffry (6-foot-1, 220 pounds) was a self-made tackling machine for the Blue Valley defense. He doesn’t have overly impressive physical attributes, but Maffry was one of the top linebackers in the state the past two seasons because of how advanced he is at reading the game.

For the second straight season Maffry led Class 6A in tackles, upping his total count from 172 tackles last season to 182 this season in his senior year. He finished with 112 solo tackles and three interceptions, as Maffry was named a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the best lineman or linebacker in the Kansas City area.

During Maffry’s four years, Blue Valley finished with a 41-9 record and won 12 playoff games. The Tigers won the Class 5A championship in 2013 and then played for the Class 6A championship in 2015 and 2016, losing to Derby in both games.

Coach Eric Driskell: “He’s just got an unbelievable work ethic and he watches film almost as much as the coaches do. He just trains himself that way so he knows what he’s seeing and how to react. He’s got a great mind for the game and he’s got great natural instincts. He plays fast and smart. He’s just one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached. He’s gone through so many injuries over the years and he hasn’t missed very many plays. He’s a warrior.”

JACOB MURRAY

Great Bend QB

Senior

Great Bend (10-2) finished with double-digit victories for the first time in a decade this season, as Murray led the Panthers to an appearance in the Class 5A semifinals. He finished his senior season with 2,281 passing yards, completing 65 percent of his passes and 23 touchdowns, while adding 1,317 yards and 26 touchdowns rushing.

Murray was one of the most lethal dual-threat quarterbacks in Kansas this season. Murray (5-foot-11, 200 pounds) was built like a running back and ran like one, too, but he also had the arm strength and pocket presence to make teams pay that tried to stop him from running.

In his two years of starting, Murray broke the Great Bend all-time record for total yards in a career with 6,275 and also career touchdowns with 82. He also finished with the single-season record for total yards with 3,598 this season and the single-season touchdown record with 49.

Coach Erin Beck: “He ran the football like a running back and then had the big-time arm of a traditional quarterback. But what really stood out about Jacob to me was his competitiveness and his will to do whatever he could to help us win. When the game was on the line he wanted the ball in his hands and he was just a natural leader. He really did some amazing things with the ball in his hands this season. He was just a very special kid.”

JOSH RIVAS

Hutchinson OL

Senior

No one had the size (6-foot-6, 335 pounds) with the agility to match up with Rivas during his senior season. He was so dominant from his tackle position that he was named the offensive most valuable player in one of the top leagues in the state: Division I of the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League.

In Hutchinson’s system, Rivas was the “big” tackle. That meant he switched from the left to the right side, depending on where Hutchinson wanted to run the ball. The Salthawks rushed for an average of 356 yards per game during an 8-2 seasons where their two losses came to Derby, the eventual state champion.

Hutchinson nearly had four 1,000-yard rushers, in large part because Rivas was such an effective blocker. Rivas, a three-year starter for Hutchinson, has orally committed to Kansas State.

Coach Ryan Cornelsen: “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen or even heard of an offensive lineman being named the MVP of a conference. He deserved it, too. He can turn any game with how dominant he was for us. We did a lot of things running behind him. He is extremely strong and he can really move laterally, which is what the colleges have been excited about. He was quick enough for us to be able to pull him and run behind him and he was always able to create a big push.”

KENYON TABOR

Derby TE

Senior

Tabor, who has orally committed to the University of Kansas, flourished in his senior season, posting career-bests in catches (69), yards (1,258), and touchdowns (12) to help lead Derby to back-to-back Class 6A championships and its third title in Tabor’s four years.

In Derby’s final four games in the playoffs, Tabor was at his best. He caught a total of 35 balls for 629 yards and three touchdowns — averaging nearly nine catches and 157 yards per game — during that span to help the Panthers to another championship. He finished his career with a touchdown and the game-tying two-point conversion in the state championship win over Blue Valley.

Tabor had the size (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) and the speed to play anywhere on the field for the Panthers. But he was essentially unstoppable when Derby started playing him at tight end during the playoffs.

Coach Brandon Clark: “I haven’t seen a guy with his size that can run the routes that he could. He’s got great feet, great hips, great hands, and this year he had some confidence to go along with it. He was just a matchup problem for defense. We could flex him out and teams would have to put a linebacker or safety out there on him. If they left him in single coverage we would throw to him and if he brought two out of the box then we would run. He really created a lot of things for us just because of how much of a matchup problem he was.”

TREVOR THOMPSON

SM East WR-CB

Senior

It is a rarity in Class 6A for a team’s best player to play offense and defense, but Thompson was a standout wide receiver and corner back during his senior season and was named the most valuable player in the Sunflower League. Thompson recently orally committed to play for Colgate.

Thompson finished with just 29 receptions in a run-heavy offense, but he was able to turn that into 794 yards and 11 touchdowns. He averaged more than 27 yards per catch and almost half of his catches went for touchdowns. He also finished with 66 tackles, one interception, and 13 passes defended.

Thompson had the size (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) to match up with big receivers on the outside and the speed to stay with the faster ones. He was able to play several positions for SM East with his versatility.

Coach Dustin Delaney: “Trevor is such a good athlete that he could pretty much do anything for us on the field. He was a dynamite receiver and then we would put him on the other team’s best player on defense and he would do a fantastic job. He returned punts and kickoffs for us and he probably could have played quarterback for us if we needed him to. He’s just got a great sense for the game and his body control and his hands are just incredible. He has some of the best hands I’ve ever seen.”

PEERLUS WALKER

Derby DE

Senior

Walker’s final statistics in his senior campaign weren’t gaudy, but he was the most disruptive force on a Derby defense that finished as one of the top in the state. Walker led Derby’s defensive line in tackles (47), tackles for loss (nine), and quarterback hurries (12).

Derby only used three defensive linemen, partly because of how dominant Walker could be. He commanded double-teams throughout the season and helped keep blockers off Derby’s linebackers, which allowed them to make plays.

Walker was big enough (6-foot-1, 265 pounds) to over-power blockers and quick enough and skilled enough to zoom by them if left in a one-on-one situation.

Coach Brandon Clark: “He’s like a running back trapped in a defensive lineman’s body. He really is that skilled of an athlete. Our defense was pretty good this year and Peerlus was a big reason why. He was an anchor on the line for us and he pretty much demanded two guys to block him or at least a lot of help to get him blocked. That was huge for us.”

JAMIE CRUCE

Pratt coach

Cruce led Pratt to a 12-1 season that ended with a 48-14 thumping of Topeka Hayden in the Class 4A-II championship game. The Greenbacks won the second-most games in program history and their second state championship — and first since 1995.

Pratt had not won over six games in a season in over a decade. Not only did Pratt double that this season, but Cruce won more games this season (12) than he did in his first three seasons combined (11).

Pratt ended the season with its most impressive victory, a 34-point win over Topeka Hayden in the championship game. It was the biggest loss of the season for Hayden and also snapped its seven-game winning streak entering the game. Pratt out-scored its four playoff opponents 156-60.

Coach Jamie Cruce: “It was a magical season and it just kind of took off. Of course during the season you’re worried about all of the small stuff. You’re about making corrections on film and what to focus on in practice, but that small stuff is how we got to where we got to. It’s not the big things that trip you up, it’s the small things and we took care of the small things this season. We always felt that if we took care of the small stuff, then that is going to put ourselves in a great position to have success. And it wasn’t just this season of work. This was truly a combined effort from the past four years and all of the great kids we’ve had come through here.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 12:38 PM with the headline "The Eagle’s 56th annual Top 11 football team."