The KSHSAA football playoffs get underway in earnest Friday night with four area teams hosting first round games.
6A: Wichita Southeast (1-7) at Manhattan (7-1) – 7:00pm on Newsradio KMAN – The Indians drew the number one seed in 6A West, trailing only the lone team to beat them the past three seasons (Washburn Rural). WSE won its opener against Wichita North and has not won a game since.
6A: Wichita Heights (5-3) at Junction City (5-3) – Back to back losses to Manhattan and Washburn Rural did in the Blue Jays hopes of finishing better than 8th in 6A West, though they do draw a home game to open the playoffs with. Similarly, Heights was cruising at 5-1 before losses to Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mt. Carmel to close the regular season. The winner draws the Washburn Rural/Wichita North winner in round two.
4A: El Dorado (0-8) at Wamego (6-2) – The Red Raiders locked in the top seed on the 4A West bracket for the second straight year by beating Abilene last weekend. El Dorado has been shut out four times this season while allowing every team to score 30 or more points.
3A: Chapman (3-5) at Rock Creek (5-3) – 7:00pm – B104.7’s Carpet One of Manhattan Game of the Week – The Mustangs rebounded from losing the 3A District 5 championship game to Clay Center two weeks ago by dominating Concordia to clinch second. This is a meeting between soon-to-be league foes, as Rock Creek joins the NCKL next year. Chapman has won two of the last three to close the regular season to match last year’s three win season.
2A – Riley County (4-4) at Rossville (5-3) – This is a rematch of a week two fight between the Mid-East League members, won by Riley County 26-20. The Falcons ended their regular season with a strong showing against Minneapolis last Friday night while the Bulldogs have won three straight to finish second in their district behind rival Silver Lake. The winner has a date with defending champion and unbeaten Nemaha Central in the next round after the Thunder shut out Pleasant Ridge Thursday night, 48-0.
On Thursday, Frankfort ousted Beloit-St. John’s-Tipton in the 8-Man II opening round, 60-0, and Blue Valley-Randolph ended its season with a 4-5 record, falling to Osborne 56-6.
