All season, Olpe has been a shark wading through a pool of slow-swimming, highly chewable guppies.
How well the Eagles stack up against the other big fish in Class 2-1A is something that will continue to be a mystery until at least Olpe’s second game in the playoffs, should the Eagles dismiss visiting Chase County tonight.
Coming off the first game in which they had to expend real effort to win, the Eagles (8-0) will be heavy favorites once again in their state playoff opener. They’ve held steady at No. 4 in the Class 2-1A rankings despite week-in, week-out dominance, in large part because the teams they’ve blown out have been, by and large, mediocre or worse.
Two Olpe opponents finished the regular season over .500: 5-4 Northern Heights, which the Eagles crushed 55-14 in the first game of the year, and 6-3 Humboldt, a workmanlike 20-7 win last week that was the first Olpe game that didn’t turn into a lopsided bloodbath.
Being essentially a team without a league, thanks to being the only 11-man team left in the Lyon County League, the Eagles had to get creative in finding teams to fill out their schedule.
“I was so ready to play a team that would give us some competition,” running back Cole Krueger said after the win over Humboldt. “We really needed this game before we got to the postseason to see what we were like. We haven’t really had a game that tested us all year, so it’s nice to have this game.”
At 3-6, Chase County can be seen as a symbol of why many people ridicule the Kansas district system that determines who gets in the playoffs. The Bulldogs were in a three-team district with Moundridge and winless Peabody-Burns, and needed only a 28-14 victory over Peabody to secure their playoff spot.
Sub-.500 teams routinely get in the playoffs in every level above 8-Man, and Chase County is just one of 10 in the 32-team 2-1A bracket. In fact, 1-8 Lyndon, which Chase County beat, is in the playoffs thanks to their season-ending victory over Immaculata. West Elk, which finished 2-7, actually won their district and will host 7-2 Pleasanton in their playoff opener tonight. The winner between the Eagles and Bulldogs will get the winner of that game in the second round. Olpe beat West Elk 53-0 in week four.
Love or hate KSHSAA’s apparent fondness for Cinderella, that’s the way it is, and don’t look to Bulldogs coach Derick Budke for apologies for where his team sits or opposition to the district format.
“I think the system that we have is about as equitable as you can have,” Budke said. “We’ve been on both sides of it, a (four)-team and a (three)-team (district). I wouldn’t change the system. I think it’s fine.
“I think it’s kind of like when we had our discussion at the league meeting, and our discussion was whether we should have second team all-league votes. Well, my personal feeling is you reward or get as many teams in as you can get in. Let the kids play as much as they can play.”
Marais des Cygnes Valley (6-3) vs. Madison (9-0)
For 8-Man I football fans, it’s going to be hard not to look ahead to the potential showdown that looms in the second round of the playoffs: Top-ranked Madison and second-ranked Goessel, both 9-0, would square off on Saturday if both can win their openers tonight.
While Goessel first has to deal with 5-4 Flinthills, Madison will have to get by a familiar foe: Marais des Cygnes Valley, a fellow Lyon County League member that the Bulldogs demolished 50-0 earlier this season.
Madison showed coach Fred McClain last Thursday that they’re ready for the playoffs when they concluded district play with a three-quarter, 46-0 win over Marmaton Valley. Rested, if not tested, the LCL champions look poised for a real shot at Madison’s first state title since a Class 1A crown in 1984.
“I was real pleased with how we went down to Marmaton Valley and played,” McClain said. “I thought we played as good as we played all year, and that’s a real credit to the team, to go down there and play at a high level.”
While Madison had the LCL’s best running back tandem in Michael Luthi and Caleb Hamilton, MdCV has a pair of good runners of its own in Jacob Goodwin and Patrick Rager. Goodwin has 759 yards rushing this year and ran for 117 in last week’s 60-14 win against Wakefield. Rager notched his first 100-yard game of the season last week, running for 165.