Kole Riedy’s had a number in his mind all season.
 
1,722.
 
“I wanted to beat my dad’s record,” Riedy said of the yardage total his father, Brian, rushed for his senior season at Hope in 1992. “It made me want to push even harder my senior season to get that. It’s always good to do better than your dad. He started it off for me so I have to finish it.”
 
Sitting on the cusp of hitting that total going into Rural Vista’s Eight-Player Division II postseason game with Colony-Crest last Thursday, Riedy was right where he wanted to be. And it didn’t take long for Kole to get the number he desired.
 
Needing only 100 yards to match Brian’s total, Riedy broke touchdown runs of 51, 41 and 53 yards in the first quarter to blow right past it. Riedy finished the night with 216 yards and four rushing touchdowns, pushing his season total to 1,838 yards and 32 touchdowns.
 
“He probably always wanted me to beat it because I’m his son,” said Kole, who also returned a punt 73 yards for a score in the win over Crest. “I think he’ll be proud of me, but I really don’t know what he’ll say.”
 
Brian?
 
“I knew he had a shot,” said Brian, who led Division II in rushing yards and touchdowns his senior season, just as Kole is doing this year. “It’s always nice to have your kid do better. He’s way better than I was.”
 
Just as important as topping his father’s rushing record for Riedy is leading Rural Vista to its best season since Hope and White City went into a co-op at the start of the 2014 season. With its 51-0 win over Crest on Thursday, the Heat are 8-1 this season – the most wins for the program, surpassing the seven wins the Heat recorded a year ago.
 
“Getting out there and getting to 8-1, that’s big,” Riedy said. “Freshman year, we were like 2-7. Then sophomore year we went 5-5 and last year 7-3. We’ve just kept getting better and better.
 
“Last year gave us a lot of confidence.”
 
After posting its first .500 record since 2016 in 2023, the Heat improved to 7-3 a year ago to match the most wins in Rural Vista history. The only losses came to teams that were undefeated at the time – Little River, Burlingame and Axtell – with all three losses by 30 points or more.
 
But the groundwork for this year’s success was laid and with eight seniors back this season, the Heat have built upon that. The lone loss this season was a 70-30 shootout with Little River in a game where the Heat led 16-12 after the first quarter before the Redskins blitzed them with a 24-0 second quarter. After playing even in the third quarter, Little River outscored Rural Vista 26-6 in the final quarter.
 
But the Heat bounced back strong and has run wild since. A 44-15 win over Burlingame was the closest game in Rural Vista’s current seven-game win streak and clinched the program’s first district title.
 
“The hardware last week, I told them that’s something that hasn’t been done,” Rural Vista coach Brian Henry said. “They got to leave their legacy and that’s something to be proud of. They got their names on that trophy and now anything after that is icing on the cake.”
 

 
The monster season Riedy has put together this season has kind of come a bit out of nowhere. After a solid sophomore season where he ran for 819 yards and 10 touchdowns, Riedy served more of a complementary role to senior Logan Tate last year and ran for just 457 yards on 51 carries.
 
But with Tate and 2024 senior Gavin Carson, who also shared the backfield workload, having graduated, Henry has leaned heavily on Riedy this season. His 158 carries are triple that of any other back. He’s gone over 100 yards and had multiple touchdowns in every game, topping 200 yards on five occasions with a career best of 294 yards and 5 touchdowns in the season opener against Solomon that signaled the season he could have.
 
“This year he’s getting them all,” Henry said of Rural Vista’s offensive touches. “He’s elusive and pretty prolific.”
 
Riedy is close to leaving his legacy in more than just family circles. His 1,838 yards puts him within 124 yards of the Hope/Rural Vista program record of 1,962 rushing yards in a season, set by Jacob Krause in 2003. Krause also ran for 40 touchdowns that season.
 
Riedy will face his toughest test in trying to get that record as Rural Vista takes on Axtell in Friday’s playoff game. The Eagles are 8-1 as well this season, having their 58-game win streak snapped earlier this season by Hanover, and are the four-time reigning Division II state champions.
 
“We’ll have a good week of practice and try to be prepared for them,” Riedy said. “I’m looking forward to see how our team goes up against. Hopefully we’ll have our blocking schemes down and our defense can play a heck of a game.”
 
 
OTHER WEEK 9 FOOTBALL STANDOUTS

• Atchison County posted its first postseason victory since the 2010 season with a 31-0 road win over Eureka. Max Bottorff ran for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns and had 14 tackles while the Tiger defense recorded 11 sacks for minus 73 yards in the shutout.
• Jefferson West claimed its first postseason win since 2019 with a 45-6 romp past Anderson County. The Tigers led 26-0 at halftime on the strength of four first-half touchdown passes from Brixton Schwinn, who finished the game throwing for 345 yards and 5 touchdowns and also ran for a score. Brody Schwinn caught 5 passes for 152 yards and 3 touchdowns and Crayton Holman had 117 yards and 2 touchdowns receiving. Gage Moser also returned a kickoff 55 yards for a score.
• Jack Donovan racked up 194 all-purpose yards as Rossville rolled to a 71-0 win over Mission Valley. Donovan ran for 133 yards and a touchdown and had 61 yards receiving with a score. Landen Lewis ran for two touchdowns, Canann Mitchel threw a pair of TD passes and ran for a score and Dalen Dick had a 103-yard interception return for a touchdown with Cade Horak also getting a pick six.
• Frankfort pulled out a 38-36 win over Thunder Ridge to start the Eight-Player Division II postseason with senior quarterback Wes Anderson coming up with big plays late in the game. After making what proved to be a game-saving tackle on a Thunder Ridge two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter, Anderson drove the Wildcats down the field and hit Porter Colvin for a 6-yard TD pass with 39 seconds left and then connected with Peyton Adams on a game-winning two-point conversion after a penalty pushed Frankfort back five yards for the attempt. Anderson finished with 244 yards and 4 touchdowns passing and also had nine tackles and an interception on defense. Adams had three touchdown catches and 148 yards receiving.
• Council Grove set multiple records in its 67-0 win over Central Heights, winning a playoff game for the fourth straight year. Luke Stewart threw for 370 yards and 6 touchdowns, both school records, as were his 19 completions and 383 yards of total offense. Mason Samuels hauled in 6 catches for 177 yards and 3 touchdowns giving him 10 TD catches this year and 16 in his career, both school records. Sy-ied Smith Jenkins, David McDiffett, Reid Buttrey and Blaise French all tied or set a defensive record of some kind as well.
• Southeast of Saline cruised to a 74-0 win over Southwestern Heights as Grady Gebhardt ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns and caught a TD pass. LaVone Hopkins also had two TD runs and Tiernan Ptacek threw for two TDs and Kanyon Douglas and Malachi Hopkins had consecutive interception returns for TDs.
• Troy went on the road and claimed a 30-8 win over Jayhawk-Linn in its Class 1A opener. Kaston Jasper threw for 238 yards and a touchdown and Bryer Ferris had a pair of 1-yard rushing scores.
• Collin Shaughnessy ran for 149 yards and 3 touchdowns and Wyatt Detweiler threw for 120 yards and two scores as Axtell cruised past Beloit-St. John’s 50-0.
• Jefferson County North took a 30-14 win over McLouth to start the 1A postseason. Will Elias threw for 96 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 104 yards and a score and Merrick Noll ran for 117 yards.
• Osage City blanked Royal Valley 35-0 in the 2A postseason opener as Dylan Theel ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns. Quenten Stark returned a fumble 82 yards for a touchdown.
• Junction City stormed past Wichita West 55-7 as Conrad Gomez threw for 149 yards and four touchdowns with Brody Boeckman catching two of the scoring passes. Kingston Timms had a 63-yard interception return touchdown.
• Manhattan beat Garden City for the second time this season, taking a 47-15 victory as Finn Watson ran for two scores and threw for another. Kha’Mario Davis ran for 104 yards.
• Wamego’s Dominic Falco moved within 90 yards and 2 touchdowns off the Red Raiders’ single-season receiving records with 6 catches for 106 yards and 2 TDs in the 4A postseason win over Winfield. Falco now has 1,029 yards and 14 TDs this season. Logan Fulton threw for 217 yards and 3 TDs.
• Beloit won its 2A playoff opener with Lakin 50-0 as Joel Rexroat ran for 132 yards and 4 touchdowns and also caught a TD pass.
• Hanover erupted for 44 first-quarter points in a 58-6 win over Osborne. Kadrick Cohorst threw for 113 yards and three touchdowns and Cooper Bruna ran for 89 yards and three scores.
• Cole Frank ran for 101 yards in Wabaunsee’s playoff loss to Riverside.
• Lebo rolled to a 50-8 win over St. Paul as Brock Hadley threw three touchdown passes to Ayden Ferguson and Jaxon Grimmett and Jett Edwards each ran for two scores. Hadley threw for 155 yards and Grimmett ran for 119.
• Rock Creek opened the game with a 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Jacob Perkins and the Mustangs cruised from there to a 56-0 win over Smoky Valley. Perkins also caught a pair of TD passes from Tate Smith, who threw for four scores with the other two going to Peter Martinie. Smith also ran for two scores.
• Rigley Sleichter ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns as Santa Fe Trail avenged a 2024 postseason loss to Perry-Lecompton with a 20-14 overtime win over the Kaws.
• Madison’s Brayden Grimmett threw for 188 yards and 5 touchdowns and ran for 78 yards and a score as the Bulldogs beat Sedan 57-12.
• Riley County closed its season with a 74-6 win over Oskaloosa as six different Falcons ran for touchdowns with Rielyn Wurtz and Kadrick Woodard having two each.
• Marysville’s 142 yards and three touchdowns and Grant Haefele ran for 136 yards and a score as the Bulldogs closed their season with a 40-6 win over Nickerson.