Lyons (1-5)
At Hoisington (5-1)
Class 3A District
The Hoisington High School football team begins district action against 1-5 Lyons on Friday night at home.
“This game is very important,” Cardinals head coach Lonnie Irvin said. “It is important because we are going in 0-0.
“They have momentum, going into the game 0-0, too.”
Irvin said his defense is preparing for the Lions’ spread offense.
“We are going to see something different this week than we did last week in Larned,” Irvin said. “Larned runs the option, and Lyons runs a spread offense. We are going to spread out our defense and bring some pressure from the outside.”
Offensively, the Hoisington coach said that he expects more of the same, with one exception.
“I think we will try to throw the ball a little more this week,” Irvin said.
The Cardinals’ offense was rush-heavy in Larned last week with 389 rushing yards and only 69 passing yards. Seven of their eight touchdowns were scored on the ground.
The Lions’ offense has only mustered 1,065 yards of total offense this season. Lions quarterback Matt Vincent has thrown for 485 yards, five touchdowns and 12 interceptions, while rushing for 229 yards and five touchdowns.
Irvin said he plans on reaffirming his defense in the basics.
“This week, in practice, we went back to the basics,” Irvin said. “We have been working on the fundamentals. We have to play better defensively to get anywhere in the postseason.”
Quivira Heights (5-1)
At Hope (5-1)
Eight-Man Division-II
Quivira Heights travels to Hope for a battle of 5-1 teams to open up district play.
Hope’s lone loss came in Week 3 at home against Centre, 28-22. It was the only game that Hope’s usually-strong offense was kept under 40 points.
The Thunderbirds will bringing their own powerful offense to Hope. Led by quarterback Gunner Phelan, Quivira Heights has been held under 40 points only twice — once in a win against Central-Burden and the other time in its only loss this season, to St. John.
The T-Birds enter the game coming off of two shutouts, a Week 5 win against St. John-Tipton and last week’s 54-0 drubbing of Tescott.
Running back Nick Schepmann scored four of the T-Birds’ seven touchdowns against Tescott — three rushing and one defensive.

Kiowa County (4-2)
At Macksville (4-2)
Eight-Man Division-I
Macksville has a rough matchup against the Kiowa County Mavericks Friday night.
The Mavericks are 4-2 after a 48-0 loss to Pretty Prairie, Kiowa County’s first game in which it was held to under 54 points since its Week 1 loss to South Gray.
Kiowa  County is led by quarterback Ross Binford, who has 568 passing yards and 1,625 rushing yards. In fact, Binford is the only player with more than 10 carries this season.
“They have a very good quarterback that has run for a ton of yardage and it will be important for us to try to at least slow him down,” Macksville head coach Jeff Kuckelman said. “It will also be important for us to move the ball on them and score points as they have been pretty prolific scoring points all year.
“We need to try to get to their quarterback and tackle him when we get opportunities. We can’t allow a big game from him and we have to control the line of scrimmage.”
The Mustangs’ offense is almost an exact even balance with 904 passing yards and 914 rushing yards. Dakota Allison and Adam Oak lead Macksville in rushing, while southpaw quarterback Seth Filbert has thrown for 861 yards and rushed for another 299.

Otis-Bison (6-0) at Bucklin (0-5)
Eight-Man Division-II
Otis-Bison takes its perfect record to Bucklin for the first of its final two games of the regular season as the Cougars are gearing for the postseason.
The Cougars are coming off their worst game defensively, giving up more than one touchdown for the first time this season during a win over Cunningham.
Bucklin has recorded only 526 yards of total offense this season, an average of 105.2 per game. The Red Aces have also only scored nine touchdowns.
Blake Demoret is responsible for seven of the Bucklin touchdowns, four in the air and three on the ground.

St. John (4-2)
At Pretty Prairie (7-0)
Eight-Man Division-I
St. John faces its fiercest competition yet Friday night on the road at undefeated Pretty Prairie.
Pretty Prairie has four shutouts thus far. The Bulldogs have not scored less than 37 points in a game all season.
St. John is trying to right itself after losing a 44-32 shootout to South Central. The Tigers’ offense was held to only 171 yards of total offense — 123 rushing and 48 passing, but were able to score five touchdowns.
St. John quarterback Kinser Crissman led the team with two touchdown passes — 16 yards to Zach Minnis and 14 yards to Pat Prescott. Crissman also returned a kickoff for a 72-yard score.

Claflin (1-5) at Lincoln (5-1)
Eight-Man Division-I
The Claflin defense will face the difficult challenge of stopping the Leopards’ prolific offense Friday night.
Lincoln is 5-1, with a Week 2 loss to Sylvan-Lucas, 60-58. The Leopards’ offense has scored 292 points in six games (an average of 48.6) while their defense has given up 176.
The potent Leopards offense is effective both in the air and on the ground. They have 1,305 passing yards and 1,160 rushing yards.
Quarterback Dayton Walter has thrown for 23 touchdowns with only throwing three interceptions. Running back Brady Cooper has rushed for 863 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Plainville (1-5) at Ellinwood (2-4)
Class 2-1A District
Ellinwood looks to bounce back after being held to only one touchdown for the first time this season since its Week 1 loss to Thomas More Prep-Marian.
Plainville is 1-5 and coming off of its first win, a 36-28 home game against Ell-Saline.
The Cardinals’ offense is led by running backs Harrison Gilliland and Trevor Axelson who have rushed for 396 and 315 yards, respectively.
Quarterback Kyle Becker has completed 41 percent of his passes for 281 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Larned (0-6) at Hugoton (2-4)
Class 4A
Larned travels to Hugoton to challenge the 2-4 Eagles on Friday.
Hugoton is returning home from Kismet after its nail-biter win, 21-20, against Southwestern Heights. It was the second 21-20 win for the Eagles, who beat Oakley by the same score in Week 4.
The Cardinals’ offense, which has only scored more than one touchdown in a game in Hugoton’s two wins, has only 1,023 yards of total offense after six games.
Cardinals running back Cristian Camacho has rushed for 209 yards and one touchdown to lead the Cardinals. Quarterback Cody Frederick has rushed for 196 yards, thrown for 103 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.

Stafford (3-3)
At Pawnee Heights (2-3)
Eight-Man Division-II
Stafford travels to Rozel riding on its momentum after shutting out Bucklin at home last Friday, to square off against Pawnee Heights.
The Tigers are trying to turn themselves around after a crushing 66-6 loss to Chase.
The Trojans’ offense has amassed 1,190 rushing yards, led by quarterback Alex Setter, who also has 302 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and five interceptions.
Trojans running back Jacob Morris has rushed for 300 yards and five touchdowns