If not for Nemaha Central, the 2024 season could have been a truly historic one for the Flint Hills League, which has never sent a program to an 11-man football state championship game.
But last year, the league had not just one, but two, members see their chances to become the first denied by the Thunder, who survived undefeated Osage City in a thrilling 33-27 quarterfinal and then downed Council Grove 21-6 in the semifinals.
But while historic seasons for both programs came up short – Osage City set a school record with 10 wins, and Council Grove made its first-ever trip to the state semifinals – their showings gave the league a much-needed profile boost.
“It was cool to see,” Council Grove coach Derron Reddick said. “I was a player 15 years ago in this league and frankly the Flint Hills League wasn’t very respected state-wide, and I think that’s a fair assessment. I think in recent years with what Lyndon and Chase County have done in eight-man and what Osage City obviously has done, and now us, the league’s really grown a lot in our football abilities in general and in respect state-wide.
“It makes games like this big, something to play for and it’s exciting.”
Games like this would be Friday’s showdown between the two teams that have risen as not only the league’s pre-eminent powers but also state-wide contenders. Osage City travels to Council Grove for a meeting of 4-0 and ranked team in Class 2A with Osage City holding down the No. 3 spot from the start of the season and Council Grove moving into the KSHSAA Covered rankings at No. 5 two weeks ago.
If Friday’s game is like their recent meetings, an instant classic could be in the making. While Osage City has won nine straight in the rivalry – Council Grove’s last win coming in 2016 – their last three wins were nailbiters.
In their 2023 regular-season meeting, Osage City rallied from down 28-14 in the third quarter to pull out a 29-28 win on a late touchdown and two-point conversion. When they met again two weeks later in the second round of the playoffs, Kasen Parsons hit Quenten Stark for a 60-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to lead the Indians to a 15-8 victory.
Last year, more of the same. Council Grove led 20-19 with 10 seconds left only to see Parsons find Dylan Theel for a 15-yard touchdown pass on the game’s final play for a 26-20 Indian win.
“It’s been a great matchup,” Osage City coach Andrew Gantenbein said. “There was a stretch a number of years ago when we were on the losing end of one-score, late games and now it’s kind of been flipped the last few years where we’ve gotten them in the end. It’s been a very competitive matchup.”
Coming off last year’s 10-1 season and second straight trip to the 2A quarterfinals, Osage City is well equipped to match or surpass that success. The Indians returned eight starters on offense and seven on defense this season.
They boast one of the top trios of offensive playmakers in Class 2A in Parson, Stark and Theel – all three-year starters and all three All-Class 2A first-team selections a year ago.
Parsons threw for more than 4,200 yards and 47 touchdowns in his first two years as starting quarterback and this year already has thrown for 893 yards and 12 scores. He’s also rushed for more than 2,400 yards and 41 touchdowns in his career, including 313 yards and 6 TDs this season.
Stark has been his top target in the passing game, last year catching 35 passes for 723 yards and 13 touchdowns. Stark already has 7 TD grabs this season on 16 catches for 358 yards. Theel, meanwhile, is the Swiss Army knife, with 373 combined rushing and receiving yards and 6 touchdowns while also being a dangerous weapon as a returner, where he earned his All-2A honors.
The biggest question marks for the Indians coming into the season were in the trenches where graduation hit the hardest. But Gantenbein said the unit has come along nicely in the Indians’ dominating 4-0 start in which they’ve outscored their opponents 223-47.
“We feel like the guys up front are coming along really well,” he said. “We brought back some experience there but did have some guys to replace. We rotate guys so we had guys who could step into those roles who weren’t completely foreign to playing varsity level ball. We were able to hit the ground running that those guys are doing a good job.”
Up front was one area Reddick felt pretty comfortable about coming into the season despite the loss of multi-time All-2A lineman Holden Ziegler. The Braves returned four guys with starting experience led by seniors Tyler Hutchinson, Gunner Gleason and Kayden Hewitt and junior Maddox Ziegler.
“The line of scrimmage is one thing you can circle, especially the offensive line, where we’ve improved from last year to this year,” Reddick said. “Our physicality up front, our offensive line has been the strongest unit on our team.”
Council Grove’s biggest holes from a year ago were replacing do-it-all back Ace Monihen, who lined up everywhere in the Braves backfield throughout his career, and was a defensive standout along with Holden Ziegler and linebacker Landon Dody and Hayden Buttrey.
“We knew that we had a ton of holes to fill, obviously,” he said. “I think we had eight or nine seniors that played a ton, but we also knew we had some kids waiting in the wings and just waiting their turn. They were ready for that next step to take on a bigger role. We knew we’d be a good squad, but there were those questions as far as you’ve never seen the kid in the moment so you don’t know how exactly they’re going to respond. They’ve done well, but we still have room to improve.”
The Braves were thrown a bit of a curveball right out of the gate as returning starting quarterback Luke Stewart went down with an injury in the season opener after having thrown for nearly 1,700 yards last year. His backup, Maxton Villalobos, also was injured in the opener against Wabaunsee, forcing Reddick to turn to junior Reid Buttrey, who hadn’t taken a snap at quarterback throughout the preseason and hadn’t quarterbacked since junior high.
But Buttrey has stepped right in and been a big factor in the Braves’ 4-0 start. He’s thrown for 509 yards and 8 touchdowns while getting intercepted just once, and also has run for 170 yards and three scores. Last week, he accounted for all four touchdowns as the Braves built a 21-0 lead before holding on to edge Riley County 28-26.
“He was a kid who was a junior high quarterback for us four years ago, but stepped in without having taken a snap and run with it,” Reddick said. “He’s got some great leadership abilities and we’re excited with what we have in him.”
That transition has been nearly as smooth as the one that saw Reddick take over as head coach of the program this year with Butch Hayes, the head coach from 2019-24, moving to an assistant’s position.
“There haven’t been a ton of changes, really,” Reddick said. “We both are very much on the same page; we’re different people, different coaches, but our systems we built are our systems and that continuity has been huge. We’ve got four coaches on our staff who’ve been the same staff for six straight years. That continuity has been very big and our kids understand the voice they’re getting and consistency they’re getting.”
Not only is Friday’s game for the league title – one Osage City has won four straight season while also currently riding a 20-game league win streak – it also is a key contest in what is arguably the toughest district in Class 2A once again this year.
Osage City won the district a year ago, while Council Grove went just 1-3 in district play, but managed to find its way into the playoffs on a tiebreaker before going on its postseason run to the semifinals.
“It was a weird year,” Reddick said. “Frankly we kind of stumbled into the playoffs. After we lost to Silver Lake, we were talking to our administrators trying to get scores from the other games to see if we were even in. We were excited just to get there. And then once we got there, we liked the matchups of how they could potentially play out and got another shot at Silver Lake. From Caney Valley, to Silver Lake to Humboldt and even Nemaha, it seemed like every week we continually got better and it clicked at the right time.”
With Osage City having blown out its first four opponents, Gantenbein is eager for a big test to kick of this year’s gauntlet district.
“Every game in the district is going to be a dogfight and our kids understand that,” Gantenbein said. “It was proven last year, each and every week was a battle that came down to the fourth quarter and now it’s time to enter that battle again. They’ve been looking forward to the challenge.”