Sunflower Slate

Nothing small about this weekend. Titles, national playoff bids and all sorts of postseason honors are still on the table in football. Volleyball teams are headed down the stretch also. Let’s take a look by conferences:

MIAA

Football

Last weekend of the regular season and Pittsburg State is the only state school still in play in the national picture. I think the No. 10-ranked Gorillas will win big on Saturday at Emporia State and get a home playoff berth. For those of you interested, ESPNEWS will broadcast the NCAA Divison II 24-team playoff field and matchups Sunday at 2 p.m., which I wasn’t aware they did but is pretty cool. And as in most cases, it all goes back to Pittsburg State’s Jungletron at Smith Stadium — the school will broadcast the picks live to the public on Sunday on its new monolith and the public is invited. Gotta say they’re putting that thing to good use. Oh, and watch out for PSU safety Alex Kuhlman, who is making a late-season bid for All-Conference and maybe All-American honors.

Volleyball

The story here is the race to finish line between No. 5 Emporia State and No. 7 Washburn. The magic number for the Hornets is four, any combination of ESU win

CARTER

s and Washburn losses equaling that number clinches an outright MIAA title for the Hornets, which would be the first in school history. They could do it in the next week, actually, with wins today at No. 19 PSU, Saturday at Southern Missouri, Tuesday at Southwest Baptist and next Friday hosting the Lady Blues. Playing the Hornets right now can’t be fun, with outside hitters Hannah Carter and Arica Shepard picking up back-to-back MIAA player of the week awards. That’s a lot of offense to deal with.

KCAC

Football

Unbeaten and No. 6-ranked Friends can clinch at least a share of its third straight KCAC title and a national tournament berth with a victory over No. 23 Bethel tomorrow in North Newton, a game I’ll be covering. The Falcons have been playing great the last month and made a move on defense I think makes them better, moving Quinn Cunningham from safety to cornerback two weeks ago. Cunningham has two picks since, and was KCAC defensive player of the week after last Saturday’s win over McPherson, where he picked two passes and took one to the house for a 74-yard touchdown run. What an athlete Cunningham is. He played receiver and returned punts at Butler then goes to Friends and is a defensive back. Imagine what he’ll be like next year when Monty Lewis works in a couple of special offensive plays for him? Pure speculation … but you have to think that’s what’s next for him.

Volleyball

Friends seemed to be rolling to a KCAC title midway through the season but somehow ended up the No. 3 seed in the KCAC tournament thanks to a loss to Bethany in the last week of the season. That means a play-in game for the Falcons against McPherson tomorrow. You have to think that regular-season champion Bethel, Bethany and Friends all have a legitimate shot at the crown, but the Falcons will have the tougher road to the title with two extra matches. What a difference one game makes. Here’s the schedule:

Sat., Nov. 8: Play-in games

Tue., Nov. 11: Second-round matches at higher seed

Fri. Nov. 14: Semifinals at Bethel (Bethel and Bethany both have byes to this round)

Sat. Nov. 15: Championship at Bethel

JAYHAWK

Football

The Region VI playoffs begin Sunday afternoon, with Butler hosting Garden City and Hutchinson traveling to Fort Scott. I’ve already made picks for these games, and I’ll be in El Dorado to watch the Grizzlies take on the Broncbusters, a team I covered for a couple of seasons when I was working way out west on a little island called Garden City, which I’m pretty fond of, actually. Really, I think the place gets a bad rap sometimes.

Volleyball

Hutch won the west. Cowley won the east. And ne’er the two shall meet.

The Blue Dragons host the Region VI, NJCAA Division I tournament this weekend at Hutch High School, and Cowley and Butler are the teams to beat at the Division M NJCAA Division II tournament in Ark City. That’s two top 10 teams (No. 2 Cowley, No. 9 Butler) battling for a spot at the national tournament. Should be fun.

-TA