By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — It’s week 4, and the season is starting to come into focus. Wellington has its 2023 home opener against Labette County, Argonia-Attica is hosting Central Burden in a battle of undefeated, and district play begins for most of the Sumner County teams.

Tomorrow is a great night to watch football. It will be in the mid-70s and partly cloudy right around kickoff at 7 p.m.

Labette County (1-2) at Wellington (1-2) 

Wellington finally comes home after opening three weeks on the road. It will be a youth football night.

This will mark the sixth consecutive year Wellington has played Labette – a school situated in the state’s southeast corner in a town called Altamont – south of Parsons, east of Independence and northeast of Coffeyville. It has been the one school Wellington has had consistent success with, having beaten the Grizzlies for five consecutive seasons. Last year, Wellington rolled past Labette 52-34.

So, will this year be similar? The Grizzlies are 1-2 after beating Circle in the opening week 40-28. They then lost to Parsons 24-13 and Pittsburg 45-6. It is always hard to determine how that compares to Wellington since the two teams do not have common opponents.

The Crusaders are smarting from a 56-20 loss to Collegiate – a game in which the Spartans racked up 470 yards with 372 yards passing. But there is optimism in the competitiveness of the first half in which Wellington played toe-to-toe with the Spartans.

“I told the kids if we could battle the way we did in the first half and put it together for the whole game, we are going to be very dangerous,” said Jeremiah Meeks, Wellington head football coach. “We continue to get better every week and I am happy with the progress.”

Wellington is currently 28th in Class 4A in total offense and 29th in total defense in the 32-team classification. That isn’t very good, but that is also against the No. 1 and No. 4 teams in Class 3A.

Meeks made an interesting move by putting Carter Burnett in the secondary last week.

“Teams were running away from him and we wanted to get him in space and them him fly around as an athlete,” Meeks said. “He had 19 tackles for us last Friday. He will be better and better in that position.”

Burnett leads Wellington in receiving with 248 yards on 10 catches to go with his team-leading 28 tackles.

Brody Weir was hobbled at the end of the fourth quarter. Meeks said on Monday he is good to play as it is just a sprain. \

Central Burden (3-0) at Argonia-Attica (3-0) (at Argonia)

There are only two home games in Argonia this season. This Friday’s game should be a good one between two undefeated teams.

Central is coming off a huge 48-28 win over West Elk, two of the three teams vying for the South-Central Border League title. The two teams were tied at 28 going into the fourth quarter before the Raiders took off with three touchdowns to seal the win.

A&A’s defense will have to deal with three rushers who have almost 50 yards or more per game. Xander Woods leads the Raiders in rushing at 70 ypg. Central mixes it up with 595 yards rushing to 388 yards passing.

Udall (0-3) at South Sumner (3-0) (at South Haven). 

South Sumner has yet to see the second half due to beating teams by the mercy rule. It doesn’t look like the Outlaws will see it again on Friday. The Eagles have been outscored 146 to 26 in the first three games. South Sumner has outscored its opponents 184-38.

Alex Smith has racked up 532 yards in all-purpose yards for the Outlaws in just six quarters played.

Oxford (2-1) at Wichita Independent (2-1).

Oxford has its work cut out for it in the next three weeks, when it will battle teams with a cumulative 11-1 record.

Wichita Independent went 8-2 last season, including a 40-34 victory over Oxford. The Panthers got off to a 2-0 start this season before getting beat by Moundridge 60-0. The Wildcats just won a huge win over Cedar-Vale Dexter 58-32.

Medicine Lodge (2-1) at Conway Springs (1-2)

Last season, Medicine Lodge was the game in which things got better for Conway Springs. The Cardinals were 0-3 going into Medicine Lodge before winning 43-13.  Conway Springs then won six straight to get to the state semifinals.

The Indians may be a tough out. Last week Medicine Lodge lost to Garden Plain 21-7, a team that defeated the Cardinals 21-14.

Belle Plaine (1-2) at Sacred Heart (0-3) (at Kansas Wesleyan)

This is not a district game like most of the rest of Class 1A. Since District 6 is a five-team district, Belle Plaine will be the designated non-district opponent. Sacred Heart beat Belle Plaine 30-0 last season. However, the Knights are 0-3 going into this game with huge losses to Minneapolis and Ellsworth.

Belle Plaine after winning the season opener against Douglass has lost two straight.

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