Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about this, but I read a story today on Illinois increasing the number of classes for wrestling, track and soccer from two to three.

OK, so Illinois has three classes for those sports — Kansas has four for wrestling, six for track and three for boys soccer, two for girls soccer.

Illinois has basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball moved to four classes last year. Kansas has six classes in basketball and volleyball, five in softball and baseball. Illinois has eight classes in football, while Kansas has 7 (eight-man has two divisions, two champions).

My point? Illinois’ population in 2006 was nearly 13 million. Kansas’ population in 2006? Nearly 3 million.

I definitely believe that there are too many classes. Not everyone has to be a winner. It’s OK to work hard to be the best and not receive a trophy if you’re not. Yet we obviously think that every athlete needs an award (look at postseason honors!).

Why not combine Class 6A and 5A? That’s an easy one right there. Why not combine 8-man into one, instead of having two divisions? Yes, there would be fewer teams making the playoffs, but already half the teams make the playoffs in 6A through 2-1A. Isn’t that a little ridiculous? And if you want to give everyone that chance at the postseason, scrap the district system, put in an 8-game schedule and make the ninth game a postseason game, just like basketball has (everyone gets 21 games with the 21st game being the postseason game. Win and you advance.)

Your thoughts?

Brett is the latest in that athletically gifted, Spangles-loving Steven family, which has provided the City League with standout athletes for more than a decade. The group includes Taylor Steven, now playing women’s basketball for Wichita State, and multi-time state tennis champ Corey.

Brett is following in the footsteps of older brother Craig, once a standout quarterback with Bishop Carroll. But Brett has a chance to do something Craig — or any Golden Eagles quarterback in almost 30 years — never did, and that’s win a state championship.

I don’t know much about Blue Valley West, but after seeing Carroll play on Friday, I know they’ll be tough to beat. Aside from the annually powerful defense, Steven is a big reason for their success. I relate him to Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing, because neither make mistakes and both manage a game incredibly well.

As a quarterback, being called a good game manager is somewhat of a backhanded compliment. But in Steven’s case, it’s the highest compliment. He does whatever the Eagles and coach Alan Schuckman need — he can move the chains with short passes or look for a big play down field. He hasn’t thrown an interception all season and hits his receivers in stride right in the hands. Like Reesing, Steven can do it all but never tries to do too much.

This is a golden — no pun intended — opportunity for the Eagles. They haven’t won a title since 1978 and winning in 5A after this season will be incredibly difficult because Hutchinson drops from 6A for 2008.  But I think this is their year. I had bad luck blogging about quarterbacks when Logan Watkins and Goddard lost to Hutch on Friday, but I think Steven makes me look good with the City League’s first football title since 1987.

When I saw Logan Watkins playing baseball with Goddard this spring, he struck me as a little bit cocky. This isn’t exactly a criticism — when I played baseball, I was usually the most cocky player on the field and about the seventh or eighth best. Watkins can back up his swagger because he’s pretty awesome at baseball, as evidenced by the fact that he has signed with Wichita State.

I don’t really know if cockiness helps you as a baseball player, but I know it helps Watkins on the football field. He’s a little small to play quarterback in the rough AV-CTL, but don’t tell him that. He’s the best player I’ve seen this season not necessarily because of what he has done on the field, but because when you watch him, you can tell losing is unacceptable. He just won’t lose and he can will his team to victory, much like he did last week against Junction City.

Watkins isn’t a refined passer — he’ll never put up big numbers staying in the pocket. But he knows his limitations and he knows, more importantly, what he does well — run. He’s shifty and quick, so he can make a big gain out of what appears to be a busted play. He’s the perfect quarterback for the style of play coach Roger Robben prefers.

He’s also a good quote — a “go to” quote, and there aren’t many of those in high school sports. The last personal one I remember is Dupree  Lucas, a Southeast basketball player. I don’t know if Goddard has quite enough to beat Hutchinson on Friday. But the Lions have a leader in Watkins, and that just might be enough to get past the Salthawks.

Is their any better football Class right now than 4A? Take a look at the remaining eight teams. They’re a combined 82-6. And it includes three unbeaten teams.

That’s what makes the champion out of this class a very worthy champ.

I’m sticking with Andale to win it all, but it’s going to be awfully tough. If the Indians get past Topka Hayden, they’ll face either Mulvane or Ulysses in semifinals. And if it’s Ulysses, this will mark the third straight year the two have met in the semifinals.

6A: I still don’t think anyone will touch Hutchinson.

5A: Blue Valley West may be the team to beat, but it will be interesting watching the western half of the playoffs. Carroll hasn’t been to the title game since 1978, and McPherson has never gone. I think one of them will be playing on Nov. 24.

3A: Garden Plain and Silver Lake have been perfect since they met in last year’s championship. Silver Lake won that one. I think Garden Plain finally wins it all this season. It’s a much tougher road to the 3A title game in the western half.

2-1A: C’mon, it’s gotta be Smith Center. The only real suspense is whether it can go an entire season with shutouts. The Redmen go to Oakley on Friday. I say Smith Center will win, but Oakley might get one end zone celebration.

8-Man I - Hanover hasn’t given up a point, but I think Macksville wins the title.

8-Man II - South Haven has had quite a run, but I think Sharon Springs will be the team to win it all.

I can’t say I’m surprised by many of these games tonight.

Hutchinson took care of Maize 41-13, but at least the Eagles didn’t give up 70-plus. Maize receiver Brett Soft set single-season records in receiving yards and receptions.

Southeast beats Emporia. It’s the Buffaloes’ first playoff win in 24 years. Not bad. Joseph Randle and Trezz Tillman go 197 and 190. Even better.

Derby gets beat by Junction City. Not much of a surprise there, but there’s no doubt that the Panthers made huge strides. Yes, they’re back. They avoided a third-straight losing season, finishing 5-5.

Kapaun got beat by Salina Central. This is a game the Crusaders should have won, but three interceptions, a fumble and giving up more than 300 rushing yards to two backs isn’t good.

Bishop Carroll takes care of Newton. Once again, not a surprise. Carroll, as Duane wrote today, has quietly proven itself to be one of the state’s top teams. And now, a trip to Great Bend, where the Eagles lost last year in the semifinals.

Goddard beat Northwest. It was a dominant performance by the Lions. Northwest had 28 offensive yards in the first half, as Goddard led 19-0. Goddard gave Hutchinson one of its best games of the year, although they wouldn’t meet until the 6A semifinals. Goddard plays host to Junction City next week. A tough matchup.

The other football — Soccer:  Heights lost in the semifinals, but Kapaun is playing for the 5A title. Of course, Kapaun faces St. Thomas Aquinas, which beat undefeated McPherson in the semifinals. Really, who’s surprised by Aquinas winning that game, even with 7 losses? Aquinas is such a strong program, I’d hate to face them at any time.

Onto my embarrassing moment  of the night — One of the things that comes with this job is we don’t cheer for any teams, we don’t show bias (although we do want the team that won the first game in a volleyball match to win the second so it doesn’t go to three games, and that team that breaks a late tie is one we like because overtimes are not our favorite things to deal with. It’s a deadline thing.)

Anyway, I do try to think ahead to what teams I’m covering and not wear either teams’ colors. Why bring that on myself by even having someone think I’m biased toward one or another. Well, tonight I committed a major sin — I wore one team’s colors.

I showed up to the Salina Central-Kapaun game wearing maroon, the Mustangs’ colors. Now, we’re not talking a similar shade. I mean the exact color. Doh! I even had a person on the Kapaun sideline ask me if I was from Salina. Double doh!

Ah well, it didn’t change how I covered the game.

It’s time again for your predictions. Wish I had some gifts to give you guys for the winners, but how about kudos to the ones with the most correct picks? Hey! It’s all I’ve got.

Tonight is Class 6A and 5A football, so here’s a handful for you to debate:

Maize at Hutchinson (If Hutchinson doesn’t win this, I’ll, well, I don’t know what I’d do.)

Junction City at Derby (I think Junction City is irked after losing to Emporia last week and having to travel to Derby. Junction wins.)

Wichita Southeast at Emporia (This is definitely a winnable game for Southeast, but I think Emporia wins.

Salina Central vs. Kapaun at WSU (Hmmm, this is tough. How about Kapaun in a squeaker over Salina Central — but only if Kapaun can stop Central’s running game and Andrew Braxton)

Newton at Carroll (Carroll, no question)

Now for the lone Saturday game in 5A and 6A  — Liberal at McPherson (McPherson wins in a walk.)

OK, I went out on a limb — which I detest doing — you need to, as well.

Pssst. This blog is the place for any questions you might have for Duane or I, or you can send e-mails to duane@varsitykansas.com or joanna@varsitykansas.com.

But here’s one from a reader who went to our Q&A Forum:

“Do you see the city winning a 6 or 5a state football title, if not ,is it due to lack of quality coaching , last years Hieghts team had talent ,this years East team had talent. ” 

I have a hard time looking at your two examples of Heights and East and saying, “The reason this team didn’t win a state title is because of a lack of quality coaching.”

The fact is, Brian Byers, East’s first-year coach, coached collegiately and East had its best record in more than a decade. Heights coach Rick Wheeler has made a longtime pitiful program into a consistent winner.

Here’s what I believe the problems are with why these two programs did not win the 6A titles the past two years — In Heights’ case, the Falcons ran into Hutchinson, a total buzzsaw. I don’t want to hear any disagreement on this because everyone who has seen this team play in the past few years knows just how good it is.

So let’s move on to East. Why blame Byers for East not going to the playoffs? It’s not as though East is a perennial power. This is a program that had so many years of, not mediocrity, but terrible football. Yet what everyone seemed to think this year was that East, with two of the nation’s top players — two, not 12, not 5, two — would win a state title? I wasn’t buying it, neither was Duane. It’s why we didn’t pick East to win the City League.

Carroll didn’t come out of the blue and win, win, win. Carroll had to build a program, Carroll had to have multiple talented players. Heights didn’t suddenly become a 6A contender, it built to that point. Both had to change the culture of losing.

I truly believe that there exists a culture of losing at schools that struggle for years on end. That has to be eradicated.

Was East a good team? Yes. Without a doubt. But it had injuries, it dealt with major scrutiny from fans, media, national media that no other Wichita team has had to deal with, at least in my 12 seasons. Byers handled that with aplomb. Did he always make right decisions? I can’t imagine that he did. Nor do I think any coach does during the course of a season.

Am I giving East excuses for not making the playoffs? You bet. The expectations put on this team by so many people were ridiculous. So East failed at achieving those expectations? Shocking.

 Now, I’m sure you have plenty to say about this — agreeing or disagreeing — would love to hear it.

Smith Center made national news when it scored 72 points in the first 8.5 minutes of the first quarter on Tuesday night against Plainville — see Duane’s story here. The Redmen made ESPN’s top plays, at No. 8, with their national record-setting quarter.

It’s truly amazing what the Redmen have done this season. I know some of you think their dominance is simply because of inferior competition, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that they are obviously so talented that their backups are carrying the load.

I have no problem believing that they’ll continue to roll through the playoffs and win the 2-1A title.

Not sure if this is really a curse, but if I were South Central (located in Coldwater), an 8-Man Division II team, I’d feel cursed by the playoff gods.

Not one of South Central’s players have played in the playoffs until this season, but to get to their first playoff game last night (Tuesday), they had to travel to Cedar Vale, which is a 350-mile round trip. Coldwater is in southwest Kansas but is the farthest west team in the east side of the bracket.

Coach Matt Smith did his best to make the trip seem not so long.

 ”We stopped in Harper, took a restroom break and then ate lunch in Wellington and then at Southwestern College… we hung out and watched practice for an hour and got off the bus. That helps when we don’t have to be for four to five hours (straight).”

Smith said his team was a little sluggish, but this is their first trip to the playoffs and they handled it.

Well, they have an even longer distance to travel on Saturday when they go to Hope, for a 430-mile round trip. It just keeps getting worse and worse for this team.

“I’m working on an itinerary right now,” Smith said. “I’m trying to figure out who I can call, what’s between here and Hope, what’s some place to stop where someone in the coaching fraternity will be kind to let us hang out for an hour, hour and a half. We’ve got a 4 p.m. game, so we’ll leave at 7:30 or 8 in the morning and stop in hutchinson or McPherson for lunch.”

It’s a crazy situation for this team to be in, but that’s life in 8-Man.

OK, I’m not sure if this is dangerous or not, just opening up this thread to fans of these two teams. (I’ve been warned that open threads on the WE Blog — our editorial page blog — tend to get nasty) But I know there’s plenty of you interested in this game, judging by the number who have commented on an earlier post.

I’m also not sure what else you guys can say about this game. It should be an outstanding game between two stellar teams. Echoing an earlier post — too bad it happens in the second week of the playoffs. But whoever wins will go far in the playoffs.

I’m thinking of wussing out and not picking a winner because both are so good, but, for argument’s sake, I’m taking Garden Plain.

Let the comments begin.