The 10 high school football wins and stats you need to know from Friday’s games
Varsity Kansas has you covered with a full list of scores from Kansas high school football Week 7 games on Friday.
Need a quick run-down of the important wins and performances from Friday’s games? Varsity Kansas has picked 10 games and statistical outputs that fans in the Wichita area need to know about.
1. Andover Central tops Andover for rivalry win
Andover Central maintained its control in the rivalry series with Andover, winning the cross-town game for the third straight season with a 27-20 victory on Friday on the road.
It was an important bounce-back performance for the Class 4A No. 2-ranked Jaguars (6-1) after dropping their first game of the season last week. Andover (5-2), which was ranked No. 9 in Class 5A, entered on a five-game winning streak where its defense only allowed a combined 26 points.
Andover Central nearly totaled that in the first half, as the Jaguars bombarded Andover for a 24-6 halftime lead.
In a return from injury, Andover Central running back Ashton Barkdull finished with 27 carries for 126 yards and a first-half touchdown. Senior quarterback Kai Kuntz managed the game well, throwing a 25-yard touchdown to Brock Stupka for a 21-6 lead in the first half.
Andover tried to rally in the second half, as running back Max Middleton scored two second-half touchdowns and finished with 96 rushing yards on 31 carries.
His second score cut Andover Central’s lead to 27-20 with 5:12 remaining and the Trojans had a final possession with the chance to potentially tie, but Andover Central’s defense ended the drive with a 4th-and-1 stop near midfield. Thanks to Andover penalties and power running from Barkdull, the Jaguars were able to waste away the clock.
The win also brought Andover Central (4-1) level with Andover (4-1) in the AV-CTL Division II championship race. Both teams can earn a split of the title next week, as Andover Central hosts Arkansas City and Andover travels to Goddard.
2. Last-second comeback falls short in wild shootout loss for Maize South
For the second straight week, Maize South fell behind big early. But this time, the Mavericks were able to rally back and take a lead.
In the end, the result was still the same, however, as No. 7-ranked Maize South came away with a heartbreaking 47-43 loss at No. 8-ranked Hays in a battle between two top-10 teams in Class 5A that featured nearly 1,100 yards of offense and 90 points.
After Hays took a 47-43 lead with 1:17 remaining, Maize South drove all the way to the Hays’ 2-yard line and had a pass into the end zone for what would have been the game-winning touchdown as time expired, but the pass fell incomplete and the Mavericks (5-2) dropped their second straight game.
With Hays loading up the box to stop running back Evan Cantu, who still finished with 144 rushing yards, Maize South quarterback Owen Bailey had his best game of the season throwing for 370 yards on 27-of-39 passing with four touchdowns.
Bailey led an impressive comeback after Maize South fell in a 20-0 hole at Hays in the first quarter.
The Mavericks were able to claw all the way back to take their first lead of the game, 29-26, early in the fourth quarter when Bailey drilled Sammy Dresie in stride for a 72-yard touchdown pass.
After Hays answered back to take the lead, Bailey once again had the answer for Maize South with a 13-yard touchdown strike to Jeron Askren for a 36-32 lead with 7:43 to play.
Hays once again scored and added a two-point conversion to go up 40-36 and Bailey once again answered for Maize South, converting a fourth-down pass and then finding Askren again for a touchdown for a 43-40 lead with 2:34 to play.
Maize South was flagged for two critical penalties on Hays’ ensuing drive, which was capped by a go-ahead score by Roy Moroni for a 47-43 lead with 77 seconds to play.
Bailey led Maize South down the field one last time, but his game-winning pass in the end zone fell incomplete as time expired.
3. Kapaun takes over lead for No. 1 seed in 5A West playoffs
Entering the final week of the regular season, Kapaun Mount Carmel is in control of locking up the top overall seed in the Class 5A West playoffs.
The Crusaders improved to 6-1 this season on Friday with a 51-0 shellacking of Liberal. Omari Elias rushed for 194 yards and three touchdowns, while quarterback Dylan Hamilton threw for 102 yards and two touchdowns with Will Anciaux leading the way with 64 receiving yards.
Kapaun has the slight edge in what has become a three-team race for the No. 1 seed entering the final week, as the Crusaders (66) have a slight edge in points over Hays (63) and Bishop Carroll (60) — the other two 6-1 teams.
All three teams have challenging Week 8 matchups, as Kapaun hosts Wichita Heights, Hays travels to Wichita Northwest and Carroll hosts Wichita East.
If all three teams win, then the points tiebreaker will be enforced. But if Kapaun and Carroll both win and Hays loses, then the No. 1 seed will come down to head-to-head tiebreaker with Carroll jumping Kapaun for the No. 1 seed in that scenario.
4. Bishop Carroll locks up a share of the City League title
Carroll won for the second straight week as the No. 1-ranked team in Class 5A with a 34-13 win over Wichita West, as it improved to 5-0 in the City League and locked up at least a share of the title.
Carroll (6-1, 5-0 City League) can win the league title outright next week with a win over a surging Wichita East (4-3, 3-2 City League) team that has won three in a row by a combined score of 190-15.
After leaning mostly on its passing attack this season, Carroll showed it can also do damage on the ground by piling up 230 rushing yards and four touchdowns against West.
Running back Jadonn Williams led Carroll in rushing with 76 yards and two touchdowns, while quarterback Chase Smarsh added 55 yards and two touchdowns.
5. Mulvane rides the wave of momentum with upset of McPherson
The 0-2 start to the season has turned out to be a deceiving one for Mulvane.
Yes, the Wildcats lost their first two games but they were to the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Class 3A who are still undefeated this season. In fact, Mulvane managed to give Wichita Collegiate and Andale their closest games so far this season.
Five weeks later, Mulvane is moving up the Class 4A rankings after rattling off five straight wins with its best win to date coming on Friday with a 22-12 win at McPherson, 4A’s No. 4-ranked team.
Quite a turnaround for a team that was ravaged by injures last season in a miserable 1-7 year, including a 52-0 loss to this same McPherson program. The two teams have met just six times, all coming since 2012, as Mulvane picked up just its second win in the series.
The first half proved to be a back-and-forth affair, as McPherson took a 6-0 lead on a Jaytin Gumm touchdown, then Mulvane responded with a touchdown pass from Mason Ellis to Hunter Seier for a 7-6 lead that held until halftime.
The Bullpups pulled ahead 12-7 on an Aiden Hoover scoring run with 47 seconds left in the third quarter, only for Mulvane to take a 13-12 lead when Ellis ripped off an 80-yard run on the very next snap.
McPherson intercepted an Ellis pass midway through the fourth quarter, but was marked down on its own 1-yard line. Three plays later, the snap went out of the back of the end zone to give Mulvane a 15-12 lead with 5:08 remaining.
Seier and Ellis were superb for Mulvane on the ensuing possession, whittling down the clock and moving the Wildcats down the field. Ellis put the game out of reach when he broke off a 17-yard touchdown run to put Mulvane up 22-12 with 1:40 remaining.
The win vaulted Mulvane (5-2) to the No. 4 seed in the current 4A West playoff projections, which would ensure home-field advantage through the first two rounds of the postseason.
6. Circle wins again to set up a shot at league title
It may be hard to believe that Circle, a program that has won a total of eight games the last decade, will be playing for an AV-CTL Division III championship next week.
But the Thunderbirds have cemented their status as the surprise team in Class 4A this season with their third straight win, a 33-14 victory over El Dorado, to improve to 5-2 this season.
And entering the final week of the regular season, No. 9-ranked Circle (3-1) will be playing for a share of the league title when it travels No. 3-ranked Buhler (4-0) in what will be a top-10 showdown next Friday.
But the best start in program history since 2004 looked uncertain early on Friday, as Drew Veatch returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and El Dorado jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
After relying mostly on its passing attack this season, Circle showed off its running game against El Dorado. Senior running back Dylan Bougher finished with 144 rushing yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Luke McGinnis and Cannon McCormack also added a run on the ground.
Circle trailed 14-6 at halftime, but scored four unanswered touchdowns in the second half to pull away for the win. McGinnis threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns, one each to Cole Glaves and Tyler Sanchez.
7. Collegiate’s Wes Fair scores six touchdowns in nine plays
Wes Fair wasn’t on the field much on Friday night. That’s because the junior quarterback was so efficient in Collegiate’s 82-16 district win over Halstead.
Fair was only involved in nine total plays, but he managed to score touchdowns on six them. He completed all four of his passes for a total of 186 yards with three of them going for touchdowns, while he took three of his five carries in for scores and finished with 112 rushing yards. That’s 298 total yards for 33.1 yards per play and a touchdown rate of 67%.
Jack Duarte (112 receiving yards), Ashtun Villagomez and Johnny Abromeit all caught touchdown passes, while Asa Ahmad added 63 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.
Not a bad warm-up act to get ready for next week’s monster showdown against Andale.
The game will feature the top two-ranked teams in Class 3A with Andale (7-0) and Collegiate (7-0) both entering with undefeated records. Two championships will be on the line, as they will play for the outright winner of the AV-CTL Division IV title and also the Class 3A District 7 title.
8. Newton wins second straight game after 0-5 start
It would be hard to find a team with a more difficult schedule than Newton for the first five weeks of the season.
The Railers’ five opponents are currently a combined 26-8 with four teams in the top-10 rankings in their respective classes.
As the schedule has lighted up, Newton has taken advantage and has now won in back-to-back weeks following a 35-27 win over Salina South on Friday.
Newton’s defense generated two turnovers that led to two touchdowns in less than two minutes, which spurred the Railers (2-5) to the win.
Salina South was driving, looking to go up by two touchdowns, but Newton’s Joe Slechta intercepted a pass and returned it 30 yards for the score to tie the game. On the next drive, Salina South fumbled, Caden Livesay recovered and seconds later, Colby Gomez was scoring a touchdown for a 28-20 lead.
After a defensive stop, Newton scored a third unanswered touchdown when Gomez connected with Camden Carr for an 18-yard score early in the fourth quarter to give Newton a lead it was able to hold onto.
9. Defensive stand lifts Rose Hill over Winfield
A two-point conversion stop in the third quarter proved to be the difference, as Rose Hill survived for a 14-12 win over Winfield on Friday.
After Rose Hill took a 14-6 lead into halftime, Winfield received a jolt when running back Ar’mon Acosta broke off a 91-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter. But when Winfield attempted to tie the game with a two-point conversion, Acosta was stuffed on the run. That would prove to be the final points of the game, as Rose Hill (2-5) picked up its second win of the season.
Winfield had two drives in the fourth quarter that could have potentially taken the lead, but the Vikings (2-5) came no closer than the Rose Hill 44-yard line.
Rose Hill was led by Boeden Whitted, who finished with 103 rushing yards and a touchdown with quarterback Lane Gardner throwing for 62 yards and rushing for 50 yards and a score.
10. Hesston’s Hudson Ferralez taking off at right time
Hesston has snapped a four-game losing streak with back-to-back wins, as the Swathers have combined for a total of 97 points the last two weeks.
The latest offensive explosion came in a 43-7 win over Wichita Trinity, as Hesston (3-4) locked up a Class 3A playoff spot and will play for the third seed out of District 7 in a showdown against Clearwater (3-4) next week.
Hesston will have plenty of momentum, as sophomore quarterback Hudson Ferralez had another standout performance with 344 passing yards and four touchdowns against Trinity.
Ferralez spread the love to his receivers with Nick Arnold (four catches for 116 yards), Colton Diller (82 yards), Braydne Schilling (72 yards) and Jackson Fry all catching touchdown passes.
This story was originally published October 16, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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