LARNED — High school football in the Golden Belt area continues to impress.
Hoisington, Larned, Central Plains, Otis-Bison and Ellinwood are enjoying fine seasons.
The Hoisington Cardinals, under new coach Zach Baird, have quietly put together a great season. Following a two-overtime 21-20 loss to Larned in the season opener, the Cardinals have gone on a five-game winning streak and have started to be mentioned in the rankings in Class 3A.
They should be ranked.
With a rock-solid defense and a crunching running game, Hoisington has become a team to be reckoned with as 3A teams begin district play this week.
Undefeated Central Plains continues to roll and is one of the favorites to reach a championship game in 8-Man Division-I football. Only Little River has been able to hold down the high-scoring Oilers.
Larned has posted a fine 4-2 record that could be 6-0 without a couple of last-minute mistakes that allowed opponents to edge by in games that the Indians led.
The Indians have a key district game with 5-1 Holcomb Friday night.
Otis-Bison is also 4-2 and looking to advance in the playoffs. They scored 104 points against Kinsley in an impressive offensive display.
Ellinwood, in their first year of playing 8-Man D-I football, has found it to their liking as they have fashioned a 3-3 record.
Great Bend, despite their 2-4 record, is a team on the rise as they have begun to solve their offensive shortcomings.  
Head coach Tony Crough is fashioning a tough-minded, defensive team that will be able to compete with all comers in the Western Athletic Conference.
Enjoy your football Golden Belt Fans.
You have a lot of great teams to choose from!
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As much as some of us would like to think otherwise, football is not for everybody.  
I know, I know, that’s a harsh statement for you football fans but don’t you think that just maybe the NFL has taken it too far?  
They are now playing games on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and sometimes Saturday.
If they stop at seven days a week it’s only because they don’t have the power to create an eighth day!
The NFL will move to an 18-game season in the future and, even worse, teams in London, Mexico City and probably Hong Kong, the Moon or Mars!
I doubt we really have to go all the way to Mars to find people that just don’t care about football.
They just wouldn’t understand Bill Shankly when he offered, “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that!”
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CHALK TALK — OU vs. K-STATE. Too much Trevor Knight, not enough Tyler Lockett. OU 38, Kansas State 24 … Great Bend gets one folks weren’t expecting. Panthers 21, Newton 14 … Cardinals keep rolling. Hoisington 30, Ellsworth 13 … Is KU resurrected? Texas Tech 41, Kansas 24.

Charles Tabler is a contributing writer from Larned.