NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS WEEK 8 PICK SIX
DE SOTO (6-1) AT BASEHOR-LINWOOD (6-1)
De Soto can win the United Kansas Conference title outright with a victory Friday night while Basehor-Linwood can earn a share of the crown with the Wildcats with a win.
Basehor is coming off arguably its biggest win of the season, blowing past Seaman 47-32 in a battle of one-loss teams going into the contest. The Bobcats got a big first-half boost from their special teams as Nate Martin returned a blocked punt 15 yards for their first touchdown and Kaleb Scott returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score late in the first quarter that put Basehor up 20-6.
Bobcat quarterback Brady VanDonge enjoyed one of his best games of the year as well, throwing for 294 yards and 4 touchdowns. Four different receivers caught TD passes and Brant Wilson finished the game with 5 catches for 139 yards.
VanDonge now had thrown for 1,350 yards and 13 touchdowns and Wilson has 529 yards receiving. Jekai Harris has run for 565 yards and 7 TDs.
Basehor’s lone loss came to Shawnee Heights, 27-0 in Week 4. De Soto met Heights the following week and shut out the T-Birds to the tune of a 28-0 blanking. The Wildcats’ lone loss came to Washburn Rural in Week 2 where they saw a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead disappear in a 28-21 defeat.
De Soto has shut out two of its last three opponents and allowed just six points total in the lsat three games. Offensively, junior quarterback Carson Miller has rushed for 644 yards and 8 TDs and thrown for 425 yards and 4 TDs while Bennett Hutchison has 435 yards and 12 TDs on the ground and Jayden Lang has 354 yards and 4 TDs rushing. All five starting offensive lineman have at least 17 pancakes this season.
The Wildcats are one of two one-loss teams in the east bracket of Class 5A along with Mill Valley and currently hold the No. 2 seed based on point differential. Basehor is currently the No. 6 seed in the East 4A bracket but likely would fall to No. 7 with a loss to De Soto.
SABETHA (6-1) AT NEMAHA CENTRAL (7-0)
Big Seven League arch rivals, Nemaha Central and Sabetha have both the league title and Class 2A District 4 title at stake when they renew their rivalry Friday night in Seneca. Nemaha Central is ranked No. 1 overall in KSHSAA Covered’s Class 2A rankings while Sabetha is ranked No. 5.
After fighting past Class 3A No. 2 Holton 35-28 in the season opener, Nemaha Central steamrolled its next five foes before finally getting a bit of a test last week against Riley County. The Thunder jumped out to a 20-0 lead before seeing Riley County cut the deficit to 20-12 by halftime.
But Nemaha pitched a second-half shutout to take a 34-12 win to improve to 7-0. Cooper Hajek continued his monster senior season, rushing for 322 yards and three touchdowns in the win. In his breakout season, Hajek has now run for 1,328 yards and 28 touchdowns while also anchoring a Thunder defense that has given up just 74 points.
Sabetha suffered its only loss to Holton in Week 2, 35-14, and since has completely clamped down on opposing offenses. In their five-game winning streak, the Bluejays have allowed just 14 points while scoring 249, including a 35-0 shutout of Riley County.
Josh Herrmann leads the offense with 784 yards and 11 TDs on the ground while Matthew Garber has thrown for 541 yards and 12 TDs.
Nemaha Central won last year’s game 19-7, ending Sabetha’s four-game winning streak in the series.
ELLSWORTH (7-0) AT SOUTHEAST OF SALINE (7-0)
Ellsworth has been one of the biggest turnaround stories of the year in the state, going just 2-7 each of the past two seasons. The seven wins posted by the Bearcats this season are the most for the program since 2007 when they went 7-3 overall.
Defense has been the key to Ellsworth’s turnaround. The Bearcats posted four straight shutouts in the middle of the 7-0 start and overall have given up just 40 points – the second-fewest allowed of any 2A team behind Kingman (34).
Two past two weeks have provided Ellsworth with stern tests going into Friday’s showdown, which will decide the North Central Activities Association title as well as the Class 2A District 5 crown with both teams unbeaten in each. The Bearcats fought past Russell 18-15 two weeks ago and then topped Halstead 37-19 last week.
Friday’s test will be the ultimate for Ellsworth, however. Southeast of Saline is ranked No. 2 in Class 2A and has had only two games decided by less than 32 points – a 38-26 win over Rock Creek in the opener and a 26-14 win over Clay Center in Week 5.
The Trojans are coming off a stunning 94-0 blowout of Lyons in which they allowed just one first down and had six different players rush for touchdowns led by three from Grady Gebhardt, who finished with 111 yards on 9 carries. Luke Gebhardt completed 8 of 9 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns with twin brother Jake catching both TD tosses.
On the season, Luke Gebhardt has thrown for 1,437 yards and 13 TDs and also run for 560 yards and 10 TDs. Nathan Friesen has added 555 yards and 10 TDs on the ground and Michael Murray leads the receiving corps with 523 yards.
Ellsworth’s offense has been led by Will Cravens, who’s thrown for 846 yards and 12 TDs, and Wyatt Bohnen, who’s run for 480 yards and 3 TDs.
COUNCIL GROVE (6-1) AT OSAGE CITY (6-1)
After winning just one game last year and seven over the past four seasons combined, Council Grove has a chance to reach seven wins for the first time since 2006 with a win over Osage City on Friday. The game also will decided the Flint Hills League title and the Class 2A District 2 crown with both teams unbeaten in both settings.
Council Grove hasn’t beaten Osage City since 2016 and in the past five meeting have been outscored 197-47, including a 51-0 loss last season. That defeat was part of a season where the Braves surrendered the most points of any team in Class 3A.
This year has been a major turnaround. The Braves started the year with three straight shutouts and have posted four overall, allowing just 66 points. The bulk of those came in Council Grove’s only defeat, a 46-15 loss at Marion in Week 6.
Council Grove bounced back nicely last week in routing Eureka 42-6. Receiver Ethan Burton showed off his ability to run the ball, racking up 184 yards on just nine carries, three of which went for touchdowns. Burton became the first Braves player to go over the 1,000-yard receiving mark in the game and accounted for 276 all-purpose yards and 4 TDs in the rout.
For the season, Burton has totalled 807 all-purpose yards and 12 touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Ace Monihen has thrown for 880 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Osage City’s lone loss this season was 20-12 to 1A power Olpe. The Indians have scored at least 42 points in the four games since that loss behind senior quarterback Landon Boss.
In Osage City’s last three games, Boss has gone over 100 yards both rushing and passing, twice topping 250 yards through the air. He’s only 82 rushing yards away from his second 1,000-1,000 season, sitting at 1,184 yards and 12 TDs passing and 918 yards and 14 TDs rushing. His single-season highs in each are 1,001 yards rushing and 1,517 yards passing, both coming as a sophomore.
Cooper Parsons has been a solid complement in the backfield with 447 yards and 5 TDs on the ground and six different receivers have more than 100 yards receiving and multiple touchdowns as Boss spreads the ball around in the passing game.
CHASE COUNTY (6-1) AT MADISON (5-2)
The runner-up position out of Eight-Player Division I District 2 is on the line with both teams already having lost to district champion Burlingame. Madison is coming off a 44-28 loss at Burlingame last Friday while Chase County fell 26-24 to the Bearcats in Week 4.
Chase County led 24-20 at halftime of its contest with Burlingame but was shut out in the second half by a stout Bearcat defense. It’s the lone hiccup half the Bulldogs have had this season as they’ve averaged 57.3 points per game in their six wins.
Standout quarterback Mitch Budke of Chase County has been one of eight-player’s most productive players the past three seasons and leads all eight-player rushers this year with 1,463 yards and 25 touchdowns, an average of 209.0 yards per game.
But he’s far from a one-man show as Brock Griffin and Cal Kohlmeier have combined for just over 600 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Chase County has been so effective in the run game that Budke has only attempted 24 passes all year, completing 10 of them for 314 yards and 5 TDs.
Madison saw its big-play offense stymied for the most part by Burlingame. Star running back Bryson Turner did run for 173 yards and a touchdown, splitting time between tailback, receiver and quarterback in the game. The Bulldogs did get quarterback Hayden Helm back after missing four games with an injury and he had a combined 138 yards rushing and passing with three total touchdowns.
Turner was coming off a two-game stretch where he’d run for more than 750 yards and 15 touchdowns and for the season he now has run for 1,186 yards and 28 touchdowns.
COLONY-CREST (6-1) AT LEBO (5-2)
Both Crest and Lebo sit 4-0 in Eight-Player Division II District 1 play with Friday’s game determining the district title.
Crest’s lone loss was a 70-54 shootout to Division I one-loss Chase County in Week 2. In the five weeks since, the Lancers have demolished their opposition, outscoring them 296-47. The closest of those games was a 74-28 win over Marmaton Valley.
Standout tailback Holden Barker has missed Crest’s last two games after rushing for 785 yards and 18 touchdowns in the first five contests. Fellow senior Ethan Godderz has picked up the slack, rushing for 797 yards and 14 touchdowns while also throwing for 691 yards and 15 scores. That included a career-high 256 yards and three scores in the Marmaton Valley win.
Lebo has also won five straight since an 0-2 start that included losses to Lyndon and Burlingame. The Wolves jump-started their win streak with a 30-26 win over Madison, handing the Bulldogs their first regular-season loss since 2017, and in their last four games, the Wolves have allowed just 18 points while scoring 224.
Lebo blanked Marmaton Valley 46-0 last week as Corey Reese and Drew Konrade each ran for more than 115 yards and two touchdowns with Konrade also throwing for a pair of scores. Lebo held Marmaton Valley to just 91 yards of total offense.
The Wolves’ winning streak corresponded with Konrade’s move from receiver to quarterback. In the five games since the switch, Konrade has thrown for 508 yards and 10 touchdowns and run for 384 yards and 7 TDs. On the season, Reese has run for 615 yards and 9 TDs.