ANDALE – Andale coach Dylan Schmidt stood among the barbells and racks where much of the Indians' football dynasty has been constructed and pondered what he had witnessed from running backs Cody Parthemer and Riley Marx on Friday night in a 29-6 victory over Wichita Collegiate.
"Both of those guys are studs in the weight room and studs on the practice field," said Schmidt, whose team took down the previously unbeaten Spartans for its 33
rd consecutive victory. "For what we do, for our system, those are the type of guys we've got to have."
With a Class 3A district title, the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League Division IV championship and a No. 1 state ranking on the line, Parthemer powered his way to 123 yards and two touchdowns, and Marx added 107 yards, including a 30-yard score, as top-ranked Andale passed the test from the second-ranked Spartans. The Indians improved to 8-0, while Collegiate fell to 7-1.
Two weeks ago, Andale scored a school-record 96 points in a victory over Wichita Trinity, while Collegiate posted 82 in a win last week over Halstead. But anyone who settled in for a shootout instead watched Andale grind out a 14-play, 73-yard opening drive for a touchdown that took more than eight minutes.
Even though quarterback Wyatt Spexarth scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and Jonah Meyer added a two-point conversion run, Collegiate set a defensive tone that Spartans coach Troy Black welcomed.
"I think we took big strides," said Black, whose defense limited the Indians to 271 yards. "Of the last two years, I didn't know if the kids could be that physical, but tonight I think that we showed that we can."
But Andale was even stingier. The Indians, who haven't allowed more than six points in a game this season, held Collegiate to 92 rushing yards and 53 through the air. The Spartans' lone touchdown, a 1-yard run by quarterback Wesley Fair, was set up by an Andale personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that netted Collegiate 30 extra yards on the first play of the fourth quarter.
"With the Fair kid at quarterback, he can do a lot of things, make guys miss and extend plays," Schmidt said. "To not have any defensive breakdowns, that was super impressive. A concern going in was could we match their speed, and I thought we did a good job of that."
Then there was Parthemer and Marx. With Parthemer, a 190-pound junior, chipping away on off-tackle runs and Marx, a 205-pound junior, springing for yards on trap plays, Andale's power running game gradually took hold. Marx ran out of a tackle late in the second quarter for his touchdown that helped the Indians build a 16-0 halftime lead.
"Every snap, we just had to keep that team mentality," said Marx, whose 30-yard touchdown run and 34-yard reception on Andale's lone pass completion were the Indians' longest plays of the game. "Everybody had to be perfect on their blocks to make us run like a well-oiled machine."
Marx added an 18-yard run in the third quarter that moved Andale deep into Collegiate territory. Parthemer took it from there, finishing the drive with a 1-yard run that stretched the Indians' lead to 22-0.
Collegiate countered with a 76-yard march and scored on Fair's hard-earned, fourth-down plunge with 8:48 left in the game. But after Andale recovered an onside kick attempt, Parthemer and Marx shared the workload on an 11-play drive. Parthemer's 2-yard run with 3:28 to play put the game out of reach.
"We knew they were going to be a good team, and we game-planned for them all week and put in new plays for them," Parthemer said. "You had to have a different mindset to prepare for a team like this."
Collegiate gave Andale its closest game this season, holding the Indians to their lowest point total. Moments after the game, Black implored the Spartans to do what was necessary to secure a rematch next month in the 3A playoffs.
"We do want a second chance," Fair said. "We felt like we were doing really well early, then we just started missing some little things and they capitalized on that."
As a result, Andale topped the Spartans for the fourth time during their state-best winning streak, which started with a victory over Mulvane in the 2019 season opener.
"This is one of those teams that you think you're going to see way deep in the playoffs," Marx said. "It was a good feather in our cap."
ANDALE 29, WICHITA COLLEGIATE 6
Wichita Collegiate (7-1) 0 0 0 6 – 6
Andale (8-0) 8 8 6 7 – 29
Andale – W. Spexarth 1 run (Meyer run)
Andale – R. Marx 30 run (Deschner pass from Meyer)
Andale – Parthemer 1 run (run failed)
Wichita Collegiate – W. Fair 1 run (run failed)
Andale – Parthemer 2 run (Sullivan kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Wichita Collegiate: W. Fair 21-56, Villagomez 5-19, Gagnon 3-9, Mitchell 5-8. Andale: Parthemer 29-123, Marx 11-107, Meyer 5-7, W. Spexarth 2-0.
Passing – Wichita Collegiate: W. Fair 4-8-0, 53 yards. Andale: W. Spexarth 1-3-0, 34 yards.
Receiving – Wichita Collegiate: Duarte 3-40, Malaise 1-13. Andale: Marx 1-34.