GREENSBURG – On a weekend packed with gripping state championship games, the tiny communities of Weskan and Cunningham took a back seat to nobody. 

More importantly, the Coyotes and Wildcats delivered a much-needed showcase for Six-Player football at its finest.

Weskan bookended its first year of KSHSAA football by outlasting Cunningham 49-48 in the Six-Player title game on Saturday at Kiowa County High School. 

“I hope people who have never seen six-man come away saying, ‘That game was fun. Those are good athletes and good teams,’ ” Weskan coach Brett Clow said. “Six-man sometimes can maybe have a reputation or whatever, but in the end, that was two really good football teams fighting it out.”

In arguably the best Six-Player game since the level became sanctioned by the KSHSAA, Weskan raced out to a 21-point halftime lead before Cunningham used a huge second half to grab a 48-43 lead with 3:15 left. 

Weskan (13-0) answered back with a 35-yard Karsyn Wright touchdown run to take a one-point lead with 1:42 remaining. 

After struggling to stop Cunningham for most of the second half, the Coyotes sealed the game after holding the Wildcats short on a 4th-and-14 with a minute left. 

“It was just a chess match,” Clow said. “It was a great football game with adjustments and guys having big plays over and over.”

“There’s just nothing like it,” Wright said. “To come to (KSHSAA) and win right away, it's amazing for the team and community.”
 

Weskan put together a dream start, finishing its first drive with a Trey Allen touchdown before Austin Smith forced a fumble and Karsyn Wright came up with the scoop and score to give the Coyotes a 14-0 lead. 

Cunningham answered back with two straight touchdowns before Weskan, aided by another fumble recovery, scored 21 unanswered to take a 35-14 lead into halftime. 

Weskan led 43-20 with 4:30 left in the third quarter after Allen caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Karsyn Wright on third-and-long. 

However, Cunningham dominated the next 10 minutes, giving Weskan fits with its passing game and shutting down the Coyotes’ running attack to string stops together. The result was four straight touchdowns. 

“They’re very resilient,” Cunningham coach Lance McGuire said. “Even down three scores, they were like, ‘We got this.’

“I was definitely really worried,” Allen said. “They definitely had all the momentum and I knew that we needed to get it back. Personally, I was definitely trying to keep myself up, but I knew that we needed to push through and we could do it.”

After a key fourth-and-goal stop, Cunningham used touchdown passes from Will Wegerer to Dagim Reed and Skyler Thimesch to grab its first lead. However, the kick for the two-point try after Reed's touchdown was blocked, which ended up looming large. 

Following Cunningham's go-ahead score, Weskan went back to some running sets that worked for the Coyotes early. Wright raced through a seam to break away for the decisive touchdown. 

“Just saw green grass,” Wright said. “I had lead blockers, so I just hit the hole.” Cunningham had a near-miss on a long pass before finding itself in a fourth-and-long with the game in the balance. The Wildcats threw short of the sticks and the Coyotes rallied to make the tackle well short of the first down, sending Weskan’s fans into a frenzy. 

“They had us on our heels for most of the second half,” Clow said. “They came out with some sets that really gave us some problems. At the end, we decided to be aggressive. We rushed the quarterback to get the ball out of his hands. We were just able to make a few plays.”

“It was electric the whole time,” Allen said. “It was just full of energy and intense on both sides. That just gets your blood pumping and the adrenaline going.

“We have a really diverse offense that made Cunningham work on defense and they have an amazing pass offense that really made us work on defense. It was hard-fought back and forth and really what six-man is all about.” Cunningham out-gained Weskan 383-325 but were hurt by the two lost fumbles and three blocked kicks on PATS. 

“We just had a couple off the fingertips, and a few penalties and turnovers,” McGuire said. “It’s hard to come back from those. It’d be nice to get a couple more of extra points. We hadn’t had anybody block that many ever. 

“Those (turnovers) were huge,” Clow said. “In six-man football, you’re dying for stops. You’ll do anything to get a stop. You can see how fast that thing can get away from you and how prolific offenses can be. Forcing turnovers is huge and it gave us a lot of momentum in the second quarter.”

Cunningham has appeared in all three of the KSHSAA Six-Player state championship games, winning in 2022 before now finishing runner-up in two straight seasons. It was a trying season for the Wildcats, who went 42 straight days without an actual game this season due to forfeits from opponents. 

“We’ve got a good group of boys, a good community and it’s lined up very nicely for us,” McGuire said. 

McGuire said he and Clow talked before the game about how down-to-the-wire six-man games had become a rarity. 

“I’m glad we gave the fans something to cheer for,” McGuire said. “It was exciting for everybody. It just makes it hurt a little more when you lose by one instead of 50 sometimes.”

Wright rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns while Allen had 93 yards receiving and 64 rushing with four total touchdowns. 

“With Trey Allen and Karsyn Wright, the more they touch the ball, things like that can happen,” Clow said. “You keep giving it to them, keep trusting everybody up front. Luckily, we made a couple blocks on (Wright’s game-winning touchdown).”

Wegerer threw for 304 yards and seven touchdowns for the Wildcats. Luke Albers had three touchdown catches while Dagim Reed had two TD receptions and Thimesch and Trent Schnittker each had one. 
 

Weskan’s four-senior class is comprised of Smith, Allen, Judah Crow and Dee Steyn.

It was a huge moment for the town and community of Weskan, with a population listed at 123. 

“I can give you a two-hour speech on what it means for more than just the team,” said Clow, who also led the Coyotes to non-KSHSAA sanctioned state championships in 2016 and 2018. “Our community’s been through a lot. We’ve been out of KSHSAA, we’ve been in co-op talks, we had a tornado. 

“So many things have gone against us to make you think, ‘Shoot, I don’t know if football’s going to last at Weskan.’ The two years of being non-KSHSAA were really hard, but I think you see the fruit of sticking it out and the community rallying around us to keep football at Weskan no matter what.

“This has been years of building for this moment. It just makes it that much sweeter.”
 

WESKAN 49, CUNNINGHAM 48

Cunningham (11-1) … 6 … 8 … 20 … 14 … – … 48 

Weskan (13-0) … 14 … 21 … 8 … 6 … – … 49 

Weskan – Allen 1 run (Allen kick)

Weskan – Wright 35 fumble return (kick blocked)

Cunningham – Reed 25 pass from Wegerer (kick blocked)

Cunningham – Schnittker 1 pass from Wegerer (Reed kick)

Weskan – Wright 27 run (run failed)

Weskan – Allen 10 run (Allen run)

Weskan – Allen 11 pass from Cottrell (Allen kick) 

Cunningham – Albers 3 pass from Wegerer (run failed)

Weskan – Allen 35 pass from Wright (Allen kick)

Cunningham – Albers 3 pass from Wegerer (kick blocked)

Cunningham – Albers 2 pass from Wegerer (Reed kick)

Cunningham – Reed 14 pass from Wegerer (Reed kick)

Cunningham – Thimmesch 14 pass from Wegerer (kick blocked) 

Weskan – Wright 35 run (pass failed)

TEAM STATISTICS 

… CUN … WES

Rushes yards …12-79  … 42-187

Passing yards … 304 … 138

Passing (Comp-Att-INT) … 30-42-0 … 13-20-0… 

Total plays-yards … 54-383 … 62-325

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING  – Cunningham: Thimesch 5-33, Kerschen 4-52, Wegerer 3-(minus) 6. Weskan: Wright 17-101, Allen 17-64, Crow 5-16, Cottrell 3-6. 

PASSING – Cunningham: Wegerer 30-42-0, 304 yards. Weskan: Cottrell 9-15-0 49 yards, Wright 4-5-0, 89 yards. 

RECEIVING – Cunningham: Albers 10-90, Thimesch 7-75, Kerschen 6-50, Reed 3-46, Schnittker 4-43. Weskan: Allen 4-93, Crow 4-26, Wright 2-6, Steyn 1-7, Cottrell 1-4, Aldridge 1-2.