October 1, 2010
Just a reminder: There is another prep football team in Hutchinson, and at mid-season, they are just as undefeated as the Salthawks. The 4 and 0 Trinity Celtics host also 4 and 0 Remington in what promises to be an air battle. The teams' passing attacks combine to average scoring 108 points per game. Don't slow down tonight, fellas.
In preseason, the Circle-Collegiate match-up looked about as promising as the two team's district meeting in 2005, a 56-20 Collegiate win. However, Collegiate seemed to run out of gas at Andale last week and Circle ended a long losing streak to Wellington. Both are 3-1, and this could be a pivotal game at Collegiate.
Speaking of Collegiate, since opening with a home loss to the Spartans, Clearwater quietly has won three straight, the last two in dramatic fashion by a combined three points over Circle and Maize South. Tonight's a real test against Andale. The last time Andale travelled to Clearwater, Andale won 6-0 in 2008, stopping Clearwater on the goal line.
Here's another small-class match-up that I never even noticed in preseason, Hesston at Nickerson. Hesston has a shot at an undefeated season, but first they'll have to get by one of the season's surprises, Nickerson, which is 3-1 and has a schedule favorable enough to win six games, following two straight one-win seasons.
Chaparral rebounded from a heartbreaking 18-14 loss at Cheney with a feel-good 48 to 8 win at Belle Plaine last week. Tonight they play 4 and 0 Trinity Academy at Circle High School. Both teams lack depth but have explosive offensive weapons. If 3 and 1 Chaparral wants to have a shot in its most difficult match-up of the season, they can't wear down on defense trying to stop Trinity back Morgan Burns.
Pretty Prairie, a popular pick to win the 8-man Division One state title this year, hosts Macksville, by far its most difficult opponent in the regular season. Pretty Prairie is undefeated, and Macksville has one loss, 36-30 to Quivira Heights, who's a contender in Division Two. After tonight, we should know if Pretty Prairie's a football town. I've got this one covered tonight. A VYPE photographer will be in town tonight. The first non-rodeo photo taken on location in Pretty Prairie will appear in the magazine next month.
Finally, while this match-up may not send reverberations through the whole state, Dodge City has a gigantic WAC match-up at home against Great Bend tonight. Undefeated Dodge has not beaten Great Bend in a decade. Great Bend coach Bo Black has never lost to Dodge City. First-year Dodge coach Dave Foster could set the tone for his program for years to come with a rare win tonight.
