Week eight was a successful one for several HOPL teams. Skyline will send a volleyball team to state, several cross country runners will run at state, and South Barber wrapped up a district title.
Skyline
While the Lady T-Bird volleyball team would win a substate championship in Saturday, Friday night, the football team was still looking for its first win of the year. It didn’t happen as Macksville handed the T-Birds a 66-20 loss.
Skyline hung tough for 12 minutes, trailing 14-8 after one quarter. From there, it was all Macksville as the ‘Stangs outscore the Birds 52-12 over the next two quarters to end things early. Senior Brandon Baird did a little over everything in the loss, taking 16 rush tries for 84 yards and a score. He also completed 2-of-3 passes for 45 yards and another touchdown. His big play came on a 75-yard kick return for the other Skyline score. The Thunderbirds otherwise struggled on offense. Dustin Weber picked up the only other yards, going 43 yards on 12 carries. Weber and Cole Patterson combined for an 0-for-7 passing performance with three interceptions. Defensively, Baird was again the leader with eight tackles.
Pretty Prairie
The Bulldogs have the lone perfect district record in Div. I, District 5 after Central Plains pulled off a 56-52 win against then unbeaten Solomon. Pretty Prairie kept its unblemished record by smashing Lincoln 68-18 in three quarters. Thursday’s clash with Solomon will still likely determine a district champion, though Pretty Prairie (7-1) has already secured its spot in the playoffs.
The Bulldogs led 44-12 at the half before outscoring Lincoln 26-6 in the third quarter to complete the mercy-rule win. Alex Mains had a hand with the first two scores, taking the first touchdown in from 22 yards out, then throwing a 48-yard strike to Stetson Broce. Mark Schnittker scored the first of three rushing touchdowns, then Broce went 58-yards with a Mains pass. Schnittker scored again from 18 yards out, then Mains threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Welker. Broce caught another touchdown pass from Mains, this time for 42 yards, Schnittker ran in from 22 yards out, and Mains added a 35-yard rushing touchdown to set up Damien Goetz’s game-ending score from three yards out.
Stafford
The Trojan boys’ cross country team is headed to state after taking second at the Class 1A regional in Meade on Saturday. Tribune won the meet with 17 points, and Stafford finished with 33 points. Macksville placed third with 55 points.
Tribune’s Troy Wineinger dominated the meet in 17:33, winning by 32 seconds. Stafford sophomore Derek McClure won the bronze medal in 18:32, beating the next runner by five seconds. A trio of Trojans finished in the No. 9-11 spots. Senior Dustin McClure led that group in 19:37, followed by sophomore Austin Ceniti in 18:52, and senior Andy Flores in 20:05. Freshman Mikey Aguilar just missed out on team scoring, finishing 28th overall in 22:18. Sophomores Trenton Herrman and Jesus Herrera placed 36th and 37th, respectively.
South Barber
The Chieftain football team claimed a district title with a 64-12 halftime win against Norwich on Friday. South Barber remains unbeaten in district play, dominating even 4-1 Caldwell in point margin (105-38). The Chieftains improve to 7-1 overall.
South Barber jumped out to a 48-12 lead in the first quarter. Sophomore quarterback Peyton Yandel scored six touchdowns in the win, needing just nine carries to run for 145 yards. He also threw for 51 yards on 3-of-7 passing. Sophomore Dylan Allison added 47 yards and a score on eight yards, also adding 55-yard punt return and score. Sophomore Peyton Reeves had the other touchdown, finishing the night with five yards on five carries. Jace Thurman had the big catch of the night for 37 yards. On the defensive side, Thurman and Patrick Lambert each had interceptions.
Fairfield
The Falcon football team did not survive a clash with district leader St. John on Friday, but Fairfield is still in the hunt for a playoff spot at 3-2 in district play, 5-3 overall. The Falcons lost 54-36, meaning they will have to beat Macksville on Thursday and hope for a big Kiowa County loss.
Fairfield fell behind 38-16 by halftime on Thursday, but eventually cut that gap to 38-36 in the fourth quarter before the Tigers pulled back away for the win.
Ryan Ewy’s pass to Brennyn Pankratz went 33 yards for the game’s first score. St. John opened a 38-8 lead before Wayne Schoenecker scored with just three seconds left in the first half. Ewy and Pankratz again connected in the third quarter, this time for 30 yards, and Ewy ran in from three yards out to keep the comeback alive. In the fourth quarter, Schoenecker scored from five yards out just four seconds into the final period. The two-point try failed and the Falcons would never get another chance. Schoenecker led the offense with 112 yards on 11 carries. Ewy added 83 rushing yards and 78 passing yards on 3-of-7 passing. Cannon Burns rushed for 65 yards on 10 tries.
Burrton
The Charger cross country team won an individual regional title and a team title Saturday at the Class 1A meet at Wichita East. The Chargers had two top four finishers to finish with 25 team points, beating out second-place Pretty Prairie by 10 points.
Senior Trae Burrton won the race by 21 seconds in 17:45. Junior Caleb Hurst finished fourth in 18:50, missing the bronze by 12 seconds. Senior Mats Kaiser missed the top 10 by a mere three seconds, finishing 11th in 19:32. Sophomore Collin Leonard placed 16th in 20:15, freshman Caden Friesen ran a 20:39 for 20th, and sophomore Zach Hardin finished 48th in 26:06.
