Andale football completes three-peat with 53-0 win in Kansas high school state title
The scary part is this was a reloading season for the Andale football team.
Not that you could tell in what arguably became Andale’s most dominant season yet, completed with a 53-0 thrashing of Frontenac to collect its third straight Class 3A state championship on Saturday at Gowans Stadium in Hutchinson.
The final numbers of the 13-0 season were staggering: Andale finished with its highest-scoring offense (53.4 points per game) and its lowest-scoring defense (5.2 points per game). No team came within three touchdowns of them the entire season.
Andale, which has won six state titles in school history, completed its first three-peat with another undefeated season, stretching its winning streak to 38 games. During the streak, Andale has outscored opponents 1,953-241 — an average margin of nearly 45 points per game.
“We always feel like we have kids who are waiting to step up, but they’re unproven and you never know how it’s going to go,” Andale coach Dylan Schmidt said. “What stands out to me is just how much they bought into what we’re doing. We did it this year as a total team effort. If there was ever a year where we’ve platooned, it was this one and I think that gave us a big advantage late in the season.”
Andale rolled up 504 rushing yards against what had been a dominant Frontenac defensive front seven. Gage Prosser led Andale with 164 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while Cody Parthemer had 154 rushing yards. Owen Eck, Jonah Meyer, Riley Marx and Wyatt Spexarth all added rushing scores.
What made it all the more impressive is that all of those players stepped into expanded roles this season and will return next season.
It was a dominant conclusion to a running game that has been so potent because of a senior-laden offensive line led by Beau Kerschen, Garrett McCaskill, Daniel Reichart, Clay Glassock and junior Jack Kraus. With Marx leading the way at fullback and tight end Noah Bruce on the end, Andale had one of the best point-of-attack advantages in Kansas high school football.
“It all starts up front for us,” Schmidt said. “We had a lot of kids who we could run behind this season and Riley Marx has to be the best fullback in the state of Kansas. He just brings the hammer on kids.”
Andale certainly dropped the hammer on Frontenac, scoring 27 points in the third quarter to break open the game. It was a dominant performance by Andale’s defense, which limited Frontenac to 48 total yards on 45 offensive plays. Frontenac had 19 yards of offense through three quarters before Andale’s starting defense was pulled.
Andale’s defense was led by Marx, Meyer, Kelby Eck and Matt Seiler on the line with Ivan Lies and Logan Spexarth at linebacker and Parthemer, Tegan Orth, Nathan Nemechek and Chase Retter in the secondary.
“It was just a super impressive performance,” Schmidt said. “I could have thought up 20 different scenarios and I would have never thought it would be 53-0. I think we just ended up wearing them down. Our kids just went out and executed and bought into what we were trying to do offensively and defensively.”
