Riverfront Stadium bringing top high school football rivalry games to Wichita this fall
Riverfront Stadium will be the host to many of the top Wichita-area high school football games this upcoming fall season.
The Wichita Wind Surge announced Tuesday morning they plan to host seven high school football games from September through October involving prominent Wichita-area teams like Derby, Bishop Carroll, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, Maize, Maize South, Andover and Andover Central.
The matchups include several high-profile rivalry games, including Maize vs. Maize South (Sept. 29), Bishop Carroll vs. Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Oct. 6), Andover vs. Andover Central (Oct. 13) and Buhler vs. McPherson (Oct. 19). Other games scheduled include West vs. North (Oct. 7), Northwest vs. West (Oct. 12) and Derby vs. Newton (Oct. 20).
They even have a title sponsor, Mel Hambelton Ford, for what they are calling the inaugural Air Capital High School Football Series. Tickets will be $8 for adults and $4 for students, while general admission tickets are currently on sale through the Wind Surge ticket office.
“It just goes with the ongoing narrative for us making Riverfront Stadium Wichita’s front porch for the community,” Wind Surge general manager Bob Moullette told The Eagle. “Adding seven events and a totally different sport maybe exposes Riverfront Stadium to some different fans for the first time. We wanted to give this community and give these high school kids the opportunity to have the best possible experience with our video board and sound system and field of play and our clubhouse.”
Riverfront Stadium is no stranger to hosting football games in its downtown baseball venue. The ballpark hosted the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference championship game in 2021, then four high school football games last fall, including the Carroll-Kapaun rivalry game that attracted a then-record crowd of more than 8,000 spectators.
That experience has prepared the Wind Surge grounds crew, led by head groundskeeper Ben Hartman, to not only increase the amount of games, but also the quality of games hosted at Riverfront Stadium.
“All of those football games we’ve hosted before has kind of given us a blueprint for how to operate and showed us what we need to do to make the fan experience the best,” Moullette said. “It’s been a great learning experience and that’s why we were confident and comfortable to bring in so many matchups in the fall this year.”
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