Week 4 recap: High-scoring shootouts lace the Wichita area as some teams make history
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One team scored the most points it ever has in a losing effort.
Here is a recap from Week 4 of high school football in the Wichita area complete with scores from all across town.
Goddard at Andover Central: Jaguar Stadium already building tradition
Drew Daniels’ right palm helped send Jaguar Stadium into an era 18 years in the making.
The Andover Central senior lineman was in the middle of the scrum as Goddard went for a game-tying point after attempt. He jumped as the ball was kicked, and his block helped preserve an eventual 34-26 home win over previously undefeated Goddard.
The Jaguars unveiled their first on-campus stadium since the school’s first football season in 2002. They are 2-0 in that stadium, and when Daniels blocked that kick, he turned to the home stands.
“To have our own stadium and be undefeated to this point here, it’s crazy,” Daniels said. “We’re trying to build a huge family here. Student section showed that. Parents showed that. Sidelines showed that. We’re trying to build something really special right here.”
For the past 18 years, the Andover Central football team has had to load its equipment on a bus and drive across town to play across the street from Andover High. Using the locker room of the Jags’ biggest rival never felt like home, so now Central has something to defend.
Central coach Derek Tuttle said that has added a chip on his players’ shoulders, but that isn’t the only reason the Jaguars are motivated and 3-0 in 2020.
Last year, Central reached the Class 4A state championship game. Although the Jaguars lost 68-7, that team was considered one of if not the greatest team in school history. They raised the bar for the 2020 team, a bar that some considered to be too high.
“We lost a lot of key players from last year: Trey (Degarmo), Xavier (Bell), Matt (Macy), Shomari (Parnell),” Daniels said. “We’re trying to prove a point and show that even without them, we can still put up numbers and win big games.”
One of those Jaguars forced to step up this season is senior quarterback Chase White. He was outstanding Friday night. He threw for two touchdowns, and both were in style. The first came with three seconds left in the first quarter. He hit Jack Bell from his own 3-yard line. Bell turned around his defender and went 97 yards to take the lead.
After Goddard receiver Soren Carr scored to snatch the lead back, Andover Central trailed 13-7 at halftime. Early in the third quarter, after White converted a 4th-and-1 quarterback sneak to preserve the drive, he delivered perhaps the best ball of the night.
He rolled to his left and found senior reciever Kyle Kohman in the back corner of the end zone. Kohman dragged his foot. With the Goddard defender closing on the ball, Kohman ripped it away and pointed it to the sky. Andover Central took the lead and never gave it up.
“We just came out and showed what Central is all about,” White said.
Goddard had a shot.
After Daniels’ lead-preserving block on a point after attempt, Central running back Ashton Barkdull went about 65 yards to seemingly put the win on ice. The Jaguars went up 34-26 with 1:44 to play.
Goddard fielded to ensuing kickoff and drove the field. On a 4th-and-10 from the Andover Central 17 yard-line, Goddard senior quarterback found Carr in the back left corner of the end zone. No defender was within 10 yards, but the ball sailed long. Central took over and took a knee.
“It made my heart skip a beat for a second,” Tuttle said. “... This stadium helps build our tradition. We’ve never had home games technically, so they feel pretty good. This is pretty special.”
For the past few seasons after every Jaguar football victory, one player would lead a chant called. He would look to the home fans and say things like, “You be careful in that jungle.” He would say, “It’s a place to fear.”
Friday night, White led that chant, and when he said, “Victory is right here,” and thumped his chest, he didn’t mean across town at a stadium that was never truly theirs. He meant victory was in his backyard.
“We’re not going to lose at home,” White said. “I’ll tell you that right now.”
Collegiate at Hesston: Fair brothers lead the Spartans’ charge
By Taylor Eldridge, teldridge@wichitaeagle.com
One year ago, it was Michael Fair scoring touchdowns and receiving the glory as Collegiate’s star quarterback.
But after tearing the labrum in both shoulders, Fair was unable to play quarterback for this season, his senior year, and switched to wide receiver in a role reversal with his younger brother, Wesley, a sophomore who is now the quarterback after being an all-league receiver last season catching balls from Michael.
On Friday, the Fair brothers teamed up for all four touchdowns in Collegiate’s 31-10 victory at Hesston in a battle between previously unbeaten teams. Wesley Fair rushed for 150 yards with three touchdowns and threw for another, a 31-yard score to his older brother for their first touchdown connection of this season.
Through Collegiate’s 4-0 start, Wesley Fair has racked up more than 600 rushing yards and accounted for 14 touchdowns.
“I loved playing quarterback, but after my injuries I just wanted to stay on the field and help my team win,” Michael Fair said. “It’s cool to be on the other side, catching the balls now. Wesley is doing a great job. He’s killing it.”
“That’s my brother, I love him,” Wesley Fair added. “He’s got my back and I’ve got his.”
For some seniors, seeing their younger brother replace them and excel in the role could lead to some jealousy. Not in the Fair household. According to Collegiate coach Troy Black, Michael has been Wesley’s No. 1 supporter since the day he was named starter.
“Michael is just a great, great kid,” Black said. “He’s a great leader, a great teammate, and Michael just wants to win. He comes from great parents. We’re lucky to have kids like that in our program.”
When Wesley faced his first bout of adversity as starting quarterback last week in a game against Rose Hill, it was Michael who was in Wesley’s ear on the sidelines, being the calming influence and urging him to put his mistakes behind him. Sure enough, after struggling with turnovers, Wesley was able to rally Collegiate in a come-from-behind effort to win 34-31 in overtime.
“It’s really cool because when I make mistakes and I get mad, he’s always there to calm me down and keep lifting me up,” Wesley said. “He’s always there for me.”
It was moments like that which Jason Fair, their father, will always cherish watching his sons — Quentin, Wesley’s twin brother, is also a sophomore on the team — play for the Spartans.
“As a parent, that’s what you look forward to the most is character and them loving each other,” Jason Fair said. “It’s emotional and watching that from the stands, oh my goodness, it makes my heart smile.”
The Fair family was doing a lot of smiling on Friday.
After a stalemate in the first half that saw Collegiate take a 3-0 lead into halftime, the Spartans scored the game’s first touchdown with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter when Wesley Fair finished off a long drive with a fourth-down conversion from four yards out.
The sophomore was drilled en route to the end zone and was slow to get up. At 6-foot-2 and a wiry 177 pounds, Fair doesn’t look like the prototypical workhorse of an offense. But Black says Wesley Fair is one of the toughest kids on the team, evident by him returning the next drive and finishing the night with another 25 carries.
“We knew Wesley was a super-tough kid by the things we’ve seen in practice,” Black said. “And then in basketball last season, he wasn’t in the top five, but he ended up there at the end of the season. If you play basketball for coach (Mitch) Fiegel, then you’re tough. He was the dirty worker. He would play defense, get the rebounds, guard the bigger guys. He’s just a competitive dude.”
With the game still on the line early in the fourth quarter, as Collegiate clung to a one-score lead, Wesley Fair broke the game open on a crucial fourth-and-1 play. Hesston sent its linebackers to the middle thinking quarterback sneak, only for Fair to run a quarterback sweep around the left end and break loose for a 61-yard touchdown.
Less than two minutes later, after a Hesston turnover on downs, the Fair brothers helped seal the win for Collegiate. Wesley dropped back and fired a quick pass to his brother, Michael, running a slant pattern over the middle — his only completion of the night — Michael caught the ball, shed the tackle, and ran for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Spartans an insurmountable 24-3 lead.
“That was a special, special moment,” Jason Fair said. “I was just thinking in the stands that this is something that they are going to have together for a long time.”
Newton at Hutchinson: They scored 42 points and lost
Hutchinson is 4-0 for the first time since Randy Dreiling was the coach.
The Salthawks beat Newton 54-42 in one of the most entertaining games in Kansas on Friday night. It was the most points Hutch has scored since 2017. It was believed to be the most points Newton has scored in a loss in school history.
There were 14 touchdowns Friday. Hutchinson running back Alec McCuan scored four of them. Newton receiver Peyton Maxwell, the No. 2 leading pass-catcher in Kansas, had two. As did Hutchinson receiver Noah Khokhar and Newton quarterback Ben Schmidt, who leads the state in passing yards.
Newton took the early lead as Maxwell got his first from 28 yards out. Khokhar answered a few minutes later with a 41-yard rushing score, but Newton’s Kenyon Forest added a 19-yard touchdown at the end of the first quarter to take a 14-7 lead. It was the last time the Railers would be in front.
McCuan took the game over in the final three quarters. He tied the game on a 2-yard run halfway through the second quarter. And with 1:02 to go in the third quarter, he scored from 7 yards out to take a 33-21 lead.
A 34-yard pass from Schmidt to Xzavion Walker made it a 5-point game early in the fourth, but Hutch senior quarterback Myles Thompson delivered a 50-yard strike to Khokhar to go up by 12 with 5:58 to play. Another McCuan score all but sealed it.
Newton has now lost four games by a combined 38 points against teams that have a combined 12-2 record. Hutchinson will play one of those Newton opponents next in Derby, the two-time defending Class 6A champion.
Andover at Eisenhower: Strong defense and a big run
Andover and Eisenhower showed what their programs are built on.
They have been two of the best defensive teams in the Wichita area over the past few seasons, and it was on display Friday as Eisenhower pushed through for a 16-7 home win.
The Tigers trailed 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter belonged to Eisenhower, and it carried a lot of momentum into the halftime locker room.
Senior quarterback Nick Hogan scored from 15 yards out with 36 seconds to go in the half. He faked a handoff and took off to his left with a blocker in front of him. Andover’s top two defensive players, senior linebacker Ashton Ngo and senior safety Isaiah Maikori, caught up to Hogan before he reached the goal line.
Hogan was too strong. Ngo went for a strip, but Hogan carried him for a couple of yards into the end zone. That was all Eisenhower would need, but the Tigers’ Parker Stevens added a safety with 6:28 to play to make it a two-score game and send Eisenhower to 2-2. Andover was seeking its first 3-1 start since 2016.
Wichita East at Wichita South: This one was all East
East freshman quarterback Daeonte’ Mitchell looked back at the 3-yard line on the game’s opening play, and that was about all the looking back the Aces did Friday night.
East beat South 54-0 in Week 4. South entered having outscored its first two opponents 108-0.
South had a chance to wiggle its way back into the game in the second quarter. Trailing 16-0, the Titans had the ball at the East 20-yard line. A fourth down throw to the right corner of the end zone was swatted away.
East took over and scored on the ensuing drive to make it 24-0. The Blue Aces are 2-0 for the first time since 2012. They started 0-2 last season. In 2020, they have outscored North and South 134-0.
Andale at Halstead: Another 4-0 start
Through one quarter and one play, Andale had a 22-0 lead.
The Indians beat Halstead 42-12 to improve to 4-0 for the fifth straight year and seventh time in eight years.
The defending Class 3A champions opened district play against one of their biggest contenders with a 65-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. Quarterback Noah Meyer has been a rock for Andale after the departure of three-sport All-Metro selection Easton Hunter. He scored the opener, and the Indians never looked back.
In fact, they kept the pedal down. They recovered an onside kick to follow and scored on the ensuing drive as Gabe Ungles punched it in from a yard out. Halstead’s offense didn’t touch the ball until it was already down 14-0.
Andale had already scored the game-winner.
Augusta at Rose Hill: Rockets get first win of 2020
Rose Hill has played a brutal schedule so far, but it finally caught a break Friday.
The Rockets beat Augusta 28-26 in Week 4 after playing Andale, Clearwater and Collegiate (who have a combined 12-0 record). They stopped the Orioles on a 2-point conversion attempt with three minutes to play to seal the win.
After falling in overtime to Collegiate in Week 3, Rose Hill was in danger of starting 0-4 for the fourth time since 2015.
This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 12:55 AM.