Maize, Kapaun football to play in different classes for 2024 Kansas high school season
Two of the top Wichita-area high school football programs will be playing in different classifications beginning next season.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association announced its classification changes for the 2024 football season on Monday, which include Maize and Wichita West going from Class 5A to Class 6A and Kapaun Mt. Carmel going down from Class 5A to Class 4A.
In a separate announcement by KSHSAA, Maize will also begin competing in Class 6A postseason competition for all sports besides football beginning immediately for the current 2023-24 school year.
The change for Maize football is a big one, as coach Gary Guzman has transformed the program into a perennial power in Class 5A. The Eagles have reached the quarterfinals in the playoffs for six straight seasons and are coming off back-to-back appearances in the 5A state championship game.
Maize hasn’t competed at the 6A level in football since 2013 and hasn’t won a 6A playoff game since 2006. After going up against mostly Wichita-area schools in recent seasons in the 5A playoffs, Maize will now be up against schools like Manhattan, Washburn Rural, Junction City, Lawrence and Garden City, along with Wichita powers in Derby and Wichita Northwest in the 6A playoffs.
Another Wichita power on the move is Kapaun, which has become one of the top 5A programs in the state recently under legendary coach Weston Schartz. He has guided the Crusaders to a trip to the quarterfinals in 2020 and the semifinals in 2021 of the 5A playoffs, while Kapaun is currently 3-1 and ranked No. 2 in 5A this season.
After competing against the likes of Maize, Bishop Carroll, Hutchinson, Hays and Maize South in the 5A playoffs, Kapaun will now be in competition with area schools like Andover Central, McPherson and Buhler in 4A postseason play. The move down to 4A makes Kapaun the largest football school in the 32-team classification.
The changes announced Monday by KSHSAA shake up 5A and 4A football the most, as Kansas City private school powers St. Thomas Aquinas and St. James Academy and Eastern Kansas League members Blue Valley and Blue Valley North all end up in Class 5A.
While 4A bids farewell to two private-school powers, the arrival of Kapaun now puts a top private-school program — Bishop Miege remains in 4A — in the East and the West brackets. Miege and St. James have won the 4A championship since the classification was consolidated into one in 2018.
Several more area schools will be changing football classifications for the 2024 season, including Wichita West bumping up from 5A to 6A, Chaparral moving up from 2A to 3A, Belle Plaine and Bluestem both bumping up from 1A to 2A and Moundridge and South Sumner County moving up to 1A from 8-man football.
In the 8-man divisions, Canton-Galva moves to Div. I with Attica-Argonia, Centre and Pretty Prairie changing to Div. II.
The other area schools on the move in all sports for the 2023-24 school year come in the smaller classifications with Bluestem (previously 2A) bumping up to 3A and Eureka (3A), Oxford (1A) and Wichita Classical School (1A) all winding up in 2A.
This story was originally published September 25, 2023 at 4:27 PM.
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