The St. John High School football team has bounced back after its season-opening loss at the hands of Otis-Bison.
Since then, the Tigers  (2-1) have beaten Fowler, a team that made it to the Class 1A Division-I state playoffs last season, 58-12, and Cuningham, 54-0.
“We kind of had a few personnel changes (since the Otis-Bison game),” St. John head coach Nick Garcia said. “We’ve really improved on both sides of the ball. It was good to play against a good team like that. It helped us see what we need to do to get better. It helps motivate us.”
Last Friday, the Tigers beat Cunningham primarily using their ground game.
This Friday night, St. John will be playing its first district game at home against Pratt-Skyline.
St. John combined for 210 rushing yards while holding the Wildcats to only three yards.
Patrick Prescott led the Tigers with 149 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
“I think he did about the same against Fowler,” Garcia said. “He has just done a tremendous job this season, and our offensive line has done a great job blocking for him.
“He’s just a hard-nosed runner and a true competitor.”
Quarterback Kinser Crissman scored three touchdowns against Cunningham — one on offense (1-yard run), one on defense (57-yard interception return) and one on special teams (60-yard kickoff return).
Skyline (3-0) has bested Stafford (50-12), Cunningham (54-22) and Kiowa County (47-36) so far this season.
Skyline has had success running the ball in the first three weeks.
Quarterback Brandon Broce and running back Brennan Stotts has combined for 578 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
“Their tailback, Stotts, is a real hard-nosed runner, too,” Garcia said. “He’s not that big, only 160 pounds or something like that, but when you get a hold of him, you better not let anything slip, because he will break loose.
“Their quarterback Broce does a nice job running the ball, too.”
Altogether, Skyline has rushed for 782 yards and 12 touchdowns.
That hasn’t stopped the Thunderbirds from taking to the air. Broce has completed 16 of 31 passes for 189 yards and four touchdowns.
Stotts is the team’s leading receiver with seven catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
Chase Lykins also has two TD receptions and 47 yards.
 
• Macksville (3-0)
  at South Central (1-2)
Macksville quarterback Seth Filbert more than doubled his passing yards against Fairfield last Friday, bringing his season total to 721 yards.
He has completed 37 of 61 passes for 60.7 percent. He has eight touchdowns and no interceptions so far this year.
South Central hasn’t had a victory since its season-opening game against Spearville, 28-20.
The Timberwolves lost 30-16 to South Gray and 46-0 to Pretty Prairie.

• Ulysses (3-0) at Hoisington (2-1)
Hoisington had a rocky start to the season, and even with the 42-0 shutout of Ellinwood last week, the Cardinals still fumbled the ball eight times.
They will need to control the ball better against Ulysses on Friday night.
The Tigers began their season with a 42-40 victory over Liberal. Since then, they have not given up a point, winning 27-0 and 51-0 in weeks two and three, respectively.
Hagan Hanzlick leads the Cardinals with 396 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

• Stafford (1-2) at Ingalls (3-0)
Stafford is led by running back Tristin Paulsen, who has rushed for 309 yards and five touchdowns this year.
Quarterback Gus Stueve has found the end zone three times, and Ethan Johnson has scored two touchdowns and ran for 134 yards.
Ingalls hasn’t scored less than 50 points in a game yet this season, which came in handy in Week 2 when the Bulldogs won 50-48 over Spearville.
The Bulldogs beat Bucklin to open the season, 58-8, and bested Satanta last week, 76-36.

• Otis-Bison (3-0)
  at Thunder Ridge (3-0)
Last week, Otis-Bison took down the then undefeated Chase with the two-headed rushing attack of Dylan Wissman and Patrick Piper.
Wissman led the team with 176 yards and four touchdowns.
Piper scored two touchdowns and ran for 159 yards.
Friday night, the Cougars will face Thunder Ridge, which not only is undefeated, but has only allowed two touchdowns this season.
The Longhorns have scored an average of 44 points per game.

• Goessel (0-3)
  at Central Plains (2-1)
Last week, Central Plains recorded more rushing yards (342) than Goessel has been able to reach over the first three games (116).
In fact, Goessel has accumulated only 272 yards of total offense in its first three games for an average of 90.6 yards per game.
Bluebirds quarterback Trey Schmidt has completed 13 of 45 passes for 156 yards and one touchdown while throwing two interceptions. He also leads Goessel with 78 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Running back Drake Sterk has also scored a rushing touchdown.
The Oilers were able to run all over Little River last week, with Benn Kirmer leading the charge with 250 yards on 20 carries for an average of 12.5 yards per carry.

• Beloit (2-1) at Larned (0-3)
Beloit has won its last two games coming into its matchup with Larned on Friday night.
In Week 2, it beat Ellsworth 46-14 and last Friday, it beat Sacred Heart (Salina) 40-7.
Under center for the Indians is quarterback Easton Palmer, who has completed 15 of 36 passes for 257 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Running back Chad Wallace leads the Indians with 277 yards and four touchdowns.

• Ellinwood (1-2) at Haven (0-3)
Ellinwood head coach Dusty Beam said last week that his team needs to right the ship after a 42-0 loss to Hoisington.
Friday night, the Eagles will have a chance to do that against Haven, which lost its first three games 31-12, 42-22 and 12-6.
Ellinwood will be able to right the ship with Patrick Ringering, who has been the Eagles rushing outside threat.
Ringering left last week’s game with torn muscles, but Beam said that Ringering will be able to play on Friday.