HUMBOLDT — A pair of potent ground attacks will be on display this week when Humboldt ventures to Riverton for their Class 2A Regional football game.
The Cubs (8-1) churn out more than 240 ground yards a game. Riverton, despite playing a brutal schedule featuring some of the top teams in southeast Kansas, came in at 214 yards per contest.
So it’s not much of a stretch to say that whoever controls the line of scrimmage will have a significant advantage in Friday’s Class 2A Regional football game.
“They’re obviously a good ball club that won a lot of games in their CNC league,” Humboldt head coach Logan Wyrick said. “They’ve got seniors in key positions, and a lot of kids who helped build up their program. They’ve got talent on both sides of the ball, all over the place.”
The Rams enter Friday’s tilt with a 6-3 record, a mark that’s a bit misleading. Riverton’s three losses, to Frontenac, Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan and Parsons, are against teams with a combined 25-2 record.
“Any team you play from here on out is going to be tough,” Wyrick said.
The Rams enter Friday’s showdown on a four-game winning streak, a cumulative score of 176-11.
Riverton sports a stable of talented runners led by the one-two punch of Lane Crowder (707 rushing yards and nine touchdowns) and Loch North, (683 yards and 12 scores.) Their senior classmate Ryan Goodman handles the quarterbacking chores, having thrown for 854 yards and six touchdowns.
HUMBOLDT’S offense isn’t limited to its ground game.
Junior Blake Ellis is the latest in a long line of dual-threat Humboldt quarterbacks. On top of leading the Cubs in rushing, with 984 yards and 10 touchdowns, Ellis has thrown for nearly 150 yards a game and 18 touchdowns for the season.
Fellow junior Cole Mathes and sophomore Mason Sterling have added eight touchdowns apiece, while senior Sam Hull remains the Cubs’ top receiving playmaker. He’s hauled in 42 catches and nine touchdowns, averaging more than 17 yards per reception.
The Cubs also have a knock for forcing turnovers, nearly three a game, or 24 for the season.
RIVERTON’S success is a product of upperclassmen buying into a program, even through tough times, Wyrick noted. The Rams saw the other end of the spectrum in 2022, limping to a 1-8 finish.
Humboldt has been able to avoid any such “valleys” in Wyrick’s 10 years at the helm, having never finished with fewer than four wins in a season, and making multiple extended playoff runs.
Some of that is talent, he acknowledged, but much also hinges on staying committed. “They see an opportunity to put the paw on the side of their helmets.”
