Hayden and Washburn Rural football face tough opponents. Here's who is predicted to win.
Last week, I went 4-0 in my picks.
Overall: 65-19
Week 1: 6-3
Week 2: 9-0
Week 3: 6-2
Week 4: 7-3
Week 5: 6-2
Week 6: 6-3
Week 7: 7-2
Week 8: 8-1
Week 9: 6-3 (9 teams still alive)
Week 10: 4-0 (4 teams still alive)
Two of the 72 football teams, Hayden (3A) and Washburn Rural (6A), are from the Topeka-area, while Rossville and Shawnee Heights saw their seasons come to a close last week in regionals.
Here are the matchups for this week with insight from players and coaches as well as predictions for the games.
Hayden (9-1) at Columbus (5-5)
Don't let the record fool you. All five of Columbus' losses come to state-qualifying teams, and they're playing their best ball at the right time as winners of four straight.
More:Week 10 scoreboard and stats for Topeka-area football teams at regionals
A balanced offense with 1,328 passing yards and 13 touchdowns to 1,272 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns, Columbus quarterback Brett Hamilton has accounted for 2,092 yards and 25 touchdowns as a dual threat option.
Hayden coach Bill Arnold on what stands out: I think they can start figuring their squad out four or five weeks ago, which is obvious with their wins and losses right now. They're a physical team, a quarterback as big as anybody in 3A (6-4, 215 pounds), runs extremely hard. He's got a very strong arm and they got receivers that can go up and get some balls.
More:Hayden football upsets undefeated Wellsville for 3A regional title. Here's what stood out
Arnold on Columbus' defense, 24 tackles for loss as a team and a couple guys with just under 100 tackles on the year: They play hard from start to finish. They're a group that is very, what I described our guys as very opportunistic. They take advantage of other teams' mistakes. That's where we've got to make sure that we a play clean, clean game.
Hayden junior linebacker Jude Konrade on what stood out in film prep: Just the size of the quarterback, the physicality they show, they're a physical team.
Konrade on who it reminds them of and a key to the game: I'd say it compares to Rossville almost, kind of that tempo they do.
We've got to stop the run first. That's the major thing.
Prediction: Hayden
More:Shawnee Heights alum Amaya Tillman starring for nationally ranked Louisville volleyball
Washburn Rural (8-2) at Derby (8-2)
If you've been living under a rock in Kansas, you still have probably heard of Derby senior running back, and Notre Dame commit, Dylan Edwards.
His elite speed poses one of the most difficult challenges for an experienced Washburn Rural defense and that's the matchup to watch.
More:Kevin Bordewick's Washburn Rural squad is going for another state volleyball title
Washburn Rural coach Steve Buhler on Dylan Edwards: We have to really hustle and play as a group on the defensive side. When somebody gets to him, we gotta have other people there because a lot of times the first guy is missing.
The big thing is we can't let him get out in open space because the speed will take over and I've seen a lot of guys on tape chasing him down the field. So we're gonna have to do a good job up front of not getting pushed off the line of scrimmage and trying to keep him off the edge.
Buhler on a Derby defense with 52 tackles for loss and 22 sacks: You know they're good, and really good, when you don't see them have to do a lot of stunts and a lot of games upfront with their defense. We're just going to have to be patient with what we're getting and we can't get frustrated with things and it might take us a while to kind of get things figured out and get going.
The big thing for us is, you know if we're able to get some receivers open we got to be able to catch the ball when we have a chance even in traffic and make some tough catches and have some consistency moving the football.
Buhler on what he saw from Derby's two losses to Manhattan and Maize: I don't know if Maize would agree with this, but I think Manhattan would, is the idea that you just can't give them more opportunities than they're gonna get. If you look at a lot of their games, they take turnovers and they turn around they score off of them real quick and then the next thing you know you're down to three/four touchdowns
Washburn Rural senior linebacker Wyatt Conklin on defensive keys in practice this week: Our defense just has to be really fundamentally sound and assignment sound to keep that offense in check. We got to make sure we're doing our jobs getting in the right gaps.
Conklin on what else stands out about Derby's offense: Dynamic. They've got an incredibly good running game but their passing game is also really good. Not only do we need to focus on stopping the run, but we got to make sure our secondary's locked in, ready to go.
Prediction: Derby
Tips or story ideas? Email Seth Kinker at skinker@gannett.com or DM him on Twitter @SethKinker.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football playoffs: Hayden and Washburn Rural still playing
