Five Wichita-area games to know: Maize stuns Maize South to regain bragging rights
With Week 6 of the Kansas high school football season officially in the books, The Wichita Eagle picked out five key games to highlight.
You can find a list of Wichita-area game scores from Friday at Kansas.com.
1. Maize stuns undefeated Maize South to regain rivalry bragging rights
The most stunning upset of the week belonged to Maize, a 1-4 team who stunned its cross-town rival Maize South with a 55-30 runaway road win.
Maize South entered with an undefeated record and a No. 6 ranking in Class 5A, not to mention bragging rights from a 47-0 shellacking dealt to Maize last season.
But on Friday, it was all Maize right from the start to win for the seventh time in the last eight games in the rivalry.
The Eagles forced a 3-and-out for the potent Maize South offense, then scored on their first drive on a Shannon Jones run. Not even eight minutes had passed when Maize opened up a 21-0 lead, as Brayden Myovela connected with Conner Fuhrman and Pearce George for receiving touchdowns.
The Mavericks rallied to within 28-21 near the end of the second quarter, but a field goal by Mason Teague extended Maize’s lead and the Eagles opened the season half with a sustained drive capped by a Myovela rushing score for a 38-21 lead. From there, a pair of Elijah Cross rushing touchdowns tacked on the final points for Maize in an emphatic rivalry win.
After Maize’s 79-7 win over Campus last week, the offense has scored 134 points in the last eight quarters — a particularly noteworthy achievement after the Eagles only mustered 24 combined points during an 0-4 start to the season.
While the records between Maize (2-4) and Maize South (5-1) are drastic, so was the strength of schedule entering Friday’s game. Maize’s four losses are to teams with a combined 18-6 record, while Maize South’s five wins have come against opponents with a combined 2-28 record.
2. Kapaun starts its own win streak over Carroll
Last season Kapaun Mt. Carmel snapped a 26-game losing streak to its west-side Wichita rival and beat Bishop Carroll for the first time since 1999.
With a 42-0 victory on Friday, the Crusaders now have their own winning streak in the “Holy War” battle and matched the largest shutout victory in the rivalry series in the last three decades.
It is the first time Kapaun has won back-to-back games against Carroll since the Crusaders won four in a row from 1992-95.
Kapaun, the No. 4-ranked team in Class 4A, improved to 5-1 and registered its second straight shutout and third of the season, while Carroll dropped to 2-4.
The Crusaders scored touchdowns on their first four possessions of the game and rolled up more than 400 yards on the ground, as Ken Huff (147 yards, two scores), Pete Keller (126 yards, two scores) and Cal Purvis (103 yards, one score) inflicted most of the damage in a smash-mouth win.
3. Mulvane upsets McPherson for first ranked win of season
Behind a dominant effort at the line of scrimmage, Mulvane pulled off a 35-21 upset at McPherson to take down the No. 9-ranked team in Class 4A.
The Wildcats snapped a 5-game losing streak in the AV-CTL Division III rivalry series and improve to 5-1 for their best start to a season since 2012.
“We have a bunch of kids who have bought into our program and doing things the Wildcat way,” Mulvane coach Daniel Myears said. “We’re a young football team. We only have eight seniors. But we have a bunch of kids who are hungry to get Mulvane football back to where it was. They worked hard this summer and they want to get this done.”
Mulvane held a commanding 27-7 lead entering the fourth quarter, but McPherson proved resilient and scored two straight touchdowns on passes from Carter Allen to Ashton Malm.
Down to a 27-21 lead with less than four minutes remaining, Mulvane quarterback Manny Myers reeled off an 80-yard rushing touchdown — his third 60-plus score of the game — to secure the victory.
Initial reports had Myers rushing for nearly 300 yards, which Myears credited to an offensive line comprised of Preston Grube, Rocky Heersche, Nathan Maudlin, K.J. Schanz and Gunner McGrew and blocking tight end Reed Hackleman.
“Those guys played their best game of the year in the biggest game of the year,” Myears said. “They did such a good job of staying on their blocks. A big thing on the o-line is not just knowing assignments, it’s executing the assignment. They kept telling me, ‘Just run it behind us, coach,’ and when they have that type of confidence, I’m going to feed them the way they want to be fed.”
4. Circle prevails in historic, combined 98-point shootout win
In a game that saw the offenses light up the scoreboard for a combined 98 points, it was Circle’s defense that came through to secure a 50-48 victory over Rose Hill.
With Rose Hill driving for the potential go-ahead score in the final minutes, Circle’s defense forced a turnover on a fumble to secure a win in a battle of 1-4 teams.
It was the second-highest combined scoring game in Circle history, while the highest combined score that ended in a win.
“We have kids who play both ways, so it’s not so much an offense-defense thing, but we just tell them whoever is on the field has to step up and make a play,” Circle coach Logan Clothier said. “It is kind of ironic in a 98-point game that defense is the one who helps us secure the win, but our kids stepped up in the right situation.”
Circle only has four seniors on the team this season and entered Friday on a 4-game losing streak.
When the Thunderbirds gave up a touchdown following halftime to fall in a 35-21 hole, Clothier said it would have been easy for his team to lose confidence.
“We’ve been in that situation before in previous games this year and we would go 3-and-out and then all of a sudden we would be down 21,” Clothier said. “But our kids proved to be resilient. We didn’t let penalties dictate the rest of the game. We adjusted and fought through some adversity and got back in it.”
In the span of less than two minutes near the end of the third quarter, Circle delivered a wild swing of momentum with three straight touchdowns to go from down 14 to up seven.
After a rushing score by Westin Rose, Circle’s Bodie Janzen came up with an interception on defense. On the first offensive snap, Mason Stobart connected with Dominic Sawyer on a wheel route for a 25-yard touchdown and a 36-35 lead following a 2-point conversion. On the ensuing kick-off, Circle recovered a squib kick and immediately scored again when Rose ripped off a 25-yard run for a 43-35 lead.
Rose Hill scored early in the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to 43-41, but failed to convert the 2-point try. That 2-point gap proved vital for Circle, as the two teams traded scores later in the fourth quarter and the margin remained following Rose Hill’s late turnover.
5. Moundridge keeps undefeated season alive in first year back in 11-man
For the past six seasons, Moundridge has played 8-man football. And it wasn’t until last season’s 9-1 record for the program to find real success.
That success has carried over to the program’s first season in 11-man football since 2017, as Moundridge improved to 5-0 this season with a 12-8 win over Marion. The Wildcats are ranked No. 6 in Class 1A.
“It’s been a fun challenge for this group,” Moundridge coach Tyler O’Connor said. “We have a good group of juniors and seniors who we relied on heavily during that transition and probably made things a little easier than what it typically is. They’re just competitors and they’re used to having success in more than one sport. So they’ve made this season really fun and easy.”
Frustration mounted throughout Friday’s game, as Moundridge’s potent offense had been bottled up effectively by Marion. In fact, the Warriors held an 8-6 lead entering the final five minutes of the game.
But Moundridge leaned on senior Bear Moddelmog, who scored a 31-yard receiving touchdown from Henry Hecox, to find the go-ahead score in the final minutes and maintain its undefeated start.
In Moundridge’s 5-0 start, the defense has allowed just 35 points total.
“We knew we had to move the ball somehow,” Moddelmog said. “We kind of changed up our playcalling there on that last drive and we threw the ball a little bit more and we found a way to get in the end zone.”
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