Several HOPL runners were in action at the Class 1A state cross country meet on Saturday. Pretty Prairie and South Barber get to play football for at least another week.
Pretty Prairie
Despite a loss to Solomon on Thursday, the Bulldog football team is still playoff bound. Both cross country teams were in action at the Class 1A state meet in Wamego on Saturday, both finishing fifth in their respective team races.
For the girls, junior Selena Wapelhorst finished 16th in 17:01. Freshman Cassie Panek placed 34th in 17:57, senior Emily Moore ran 40th in 18:12, and junior Kelly McDonald rounded out team-scoring with a time of 19:12 in 51st. Senior Austin Coulter paced the boys in 18:22, good enough for 17th overall. Senior Corwin Williams finished 34th in 19:12, junior Ian Williams placed 39th in 19:33, and junior Paul Crum was the final team scorer, running a 20:00 for 56th.
Burrton
The Charger boys’ cross country team pulled out a sixth-place finish at the Class 1A state meet in Wamego on Saturday. Burrton finished with 108 points, coming up five points short of Pretty Prairie for fifth place.
Senior Trae Lane had the best finish of all HOPL runners, leading the team with a sixth-place finish in 17:35, seven seconds off a top-five time. Junior Caleb Hurst finished 32nd in 19:04, senior Mats Kaiser finished 39th in 19:33, and freshman Caden Friesen placed 71st in 21:19 to complete team scoring.
Pratt-Skyline
The Lady Thunderbirds won the Sterling volleyball regional to advance to the Class 2A state tournament in Emporia Friday and Saturday. The girls entered as the No. 6 seed, going 1-2 in pool play and not advancing to the semifinals.
Things looked good early on as Skyline got past Kiowa County 25-20, 25-22. The T-Birds then had to face No. 2 seed Hill City, falling in straight sets 25-20, 25-22. In a key third match of the tournament, Skyline fell to No. 7 Winchester 26-24, 25-23.
Stafford
The Trojan football team ended the season with a big win and a 6-3 record. The Stafford boys’ cross country team also ended its season with a fourth-place finish at the Class 1A state meet in Wamego on Saturday. Stafford finished with 95 points, beating Pretty Prairie by eight points, but coming up 29 points shy of third-place Victoria.
Sophomore Derek McClure cracked the top-10 to lead the Trojans, running a 17:55 to finish ninth. Sophomore Austin Ceniti, who doubled as the Trojan quarterback, finished 31st in 18:55. Senior Dustin McClure finished just 12 seconds behind him in 33rd, and senior Andy Flores ran a 20:12 for 63rd to complete the team score.
South Barber
The Chieftains completed a perfect district season at 6-0 with a 46-0 win against HOPL-foe Cunningham on Thursday. South Barber (7-2) will host Colony-Crest (6-3) on Tuesday. The winner will face the winner of the Hanover (7-2) at Chase (7-2) contest on Saturday.
Thursday, the Chieftains led 14-0 after one quarter, then tacked on three more scores for a 38-0 halftime lead. South Barber ended things early in the third quarter. Sophomore quarterback Peyton Yandel had a big game with four touchdowns. Three of those came in the air on 6-of-11 passing for 115 yards. Yandel also rushed for a touchdown and 107 yards on 12 carries. Sophomore Dylan Allison ran for two more touchdowns and another 92 yards on 11 carries. Senior Jace Thurman led the team with four catches, two for scores, for 81 yards. Kale Girty added a touchdown catch, taking two receptions for 34 yards.
Cunningham
Thursday’s football loss to South Barber did not feel like a pride game. Cunningham fell behind 38-0 at the half, eventually falling to the Chieftains 46-0 in its final game of the season. The Wildcats fall just short of a winning season at 4-5.
Cunningham simply could not move the ball against South Barber, finishing the night with just 73 yards of total offense. Junior Austin Mattal had most of those yards, taking 13 carries for 51 yards. Senior Jordan Schaller ran for 17 yards on 13 carries in his final game, and senior quarterback Dylan Moran rushed for five yards and threw two incomplete passes in his final game. Defensively, Matatl led the way with 10 tackles. Senior Conor Hamilton added nine tackles, and senior Michael Westerman recorded the only sack for the Wildcats.
Fairfield
The Falcon football team just missed the playoffs. Instead, the squad did end the season on as strong a note as possible, handing Macksville a 64-18 loss on Thursday. Fairfield finishes the year at 6-3, including a 4-2 run in district play.
Junior quarterback Ryan Ewy got things started on special teams, running the opening kick back 71 yards for a score. Ewy added touchdown runs of one and 20 yards to give the Falcons an 18-12 lead after one quarter. Fairfield went on to score the game’s next 42 points. Ewy ran in from 39 yards out, then junior Wayne Schoenecker scores on runs of eight and six yards. Sophomore Cannon Burns scored from five yards out before Schoenecker continued his offensive assault with touchdown runs of three and 43 yards. Ewy had a big night with 165 yards on 19 carries and another 67 yards on 2-of-3 passing. Schoenecker finished with 120 yards on 15 carries, and Burns ran the ball 11 times for 91 yards.
