Week 5 of Kansas high school football is done.
For some football teams Friday night’s game was “just” a league game or regular season game. But for four area high school teams Friday, the games carried a higher priority.
Kansas Eight-Man Football Divisions I and II began district play Friday night. The top two teams from each district move into postseason play.
Marmaton Valley High’s Wildcats and Yates Center High’s Wildcats opened Eight-Man I, District 2 play. Marmaton Valley was at Marais Des Cygnes Valley High in Melvern while Yates Center hosted Pleasanton. Uniontown and St. Paul are also in the district.
Marmaton Valley went into Friday night’s action at 4-0. St. Paul was 3-0. Pleasanton and Marais Des Cygnes Valley sat at 2-2 while Uniontown was 1-2 and Yates Center 0-4.
Crest High’s Lancers faced the tough task of hosting Waverly High’s Bulldogs in Eight-Man II, District 3 play. The Lancers were 2-2 and Waverly put its 4-0 mark on the line.
Southern Coffey County High’s Titans entertained Elk Valley High’s Lions. One of the teams notched its first win of the season as the Titans were 0-4 and Elk Valley was 0-3. Chetopa (2-2) had been scheduled to play Altoona-Midway but Altoona-Midway dropped its varsity schedule before the season began.
Iola High’s Mustangs and Humboldt High’s Cubs will begin district play on Oct. 12. The Mustangs are in Kansas Class 4A, District 6 with Chanute, Fort Scott and Anderson County. The Cubs are in Kansas Class 3A, District 6 with Burlington, Eureka and Fredonia.
ON THURSDAY, the new school enrollment classifications were released by Kansas State High School Activities Association. Enrollment numbers are based on all four grades in high school as of Sept. 20 and determine classifications for all activities except football.
Iola remains entrenched in Class 4A. For the 64 schools in 4A, enrollment numbers range from 729 to 258. Iola has 361. The other three 4A schools in the Pioneer League are Osawatomie at 353, Anderson County at Garnett with 321 and Prairie View at LaCygne with 295.
Also in the Pioneer League, Wellsville with 217 students and Central Heights at Richmond with 200 students are in Class 3A.
Humboldt High is among the Kansas Class 3A schools. Enrollment for 3A ranges from 256 to 159 for 64 schools.
Yates Center High is in the Kansas Class 2A ranks with a 134 enrollment and Uniontown High is in 2A at 136. Enrollment ranges from 158 to 101 for Class 2A’s 63 schools.
Marmaton Valley High dropped from Class 2A to Class 1A this year. Marmaton Valley has 98 students and will be in 1A, Division I for basketball.
Southern Coffey County High at Le Roy with 68 students and Crest High with 64 students are in Class 1A. The enrollment range is 101 to 15 students for 1A.
ON THE ACC front, Allen Community College’s cross country teams remained No. 2 — the men — and No. 3 — the women — in the NJCAA rankings.
Today, the Red Devil teams are competing in Oklahoma State University’s Cowboy Jamboree meet in Stillwater, Okla. Seven other ranked teams, three in the men’s race and four in the women’s race, face off in tough competition.
ACC head coach Vince DeGrado said the Red Devil men’s team looks pretty sharp right now. The women’s team is banged up a bit.
NFL REPLACEMENT officials are off the clock. With the settlement of the labor dispute between the NFL and the regular officials’ union, the worst-kept secret in Iola can be shared.
Yes, I knew that an Iola native — Mike Wilmoth — was working the NFL games as one of the replacement officials. I spoke to Wilmoth just before the second preseason game and he said he couldn’t talk about the experience.
Wilmoth told me the NFL requested they not talk to media.
I even called him again last week when several articles with replacement officials’ names came out nationally.
He still couldn’t talk. Wilmoth, who teaches at Wellington High School, said he would once the situation was resolved in the NFL. The secret wasn’t one in Wellington, either.
But now that things have settled, he can talk. We’ll find a time we can sit down and Wilmoth can share his experience.
“I’m having a blast,” he told me earlier.
