by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Wellington will be hosting Rose Hill Friday night in the historical first round of the new Kansas High School playoff system (see bracket here)

Five other Sumner County teams will also be playing playoff games Friday. Oxford has a consolation match with West Elk. More on that in a bit.

Wellington will go in as a No. 2 seed and will host the Rockets, a rematch from a 38-7 victory earlier this season. Yes, Wellington lost to Mulvane 14-13, but still held onto the higher seed as a result of Goddard beating Andover and moving into a three-way tie. Thus, since Goddard did not play Wellington or Mulvane, points supersede head-to-head in this scenario. Thus, Wellington had 58 points, Goddard 48 and Mulvane 32.  Thus, Wellington wins the No. 2 seed based on points.

If Wellington can beat Rose Hill in the first round, it would play the winner of Winfield at Buhler. Could you imagine another rematch with Linn Hibbs’ troops?

Wellington is assured home field advantage until the semifinals and only if it plays McPherson. So as long as Wellington advances, Sellers Park’s turf will get a workout.

The bracket stacks up nicely for the Crusaders. If Wellington can play to its capabilities, realistically it could get to the third round. That second round game will be tough if the Crusaders beats Rose Hill. Buhler defeated Winfield 28-21 last Friday. The two teams play again in the exact same spot this weekend. Wild, huh?

Goddard, of course, looms in the lower half of the bracket. But don’t sleep on Andover Central which the Lions defeated 17-16 in overtime in week No. 3.

This new playoff system is unique and has flaws, but look at it this way. It saved us a trip to Ulysses in a four-team district from yesteryear. There is a possibility with the old format Wellington could have missed the playoffs all together. Ulysses is playing great football.

And here’s another first round nugget for you. Labette County travels to Bishop Miege in playoff week #1. Wellington’s week #6 victory over the Grizzlies was huge in so many ways.

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Here are the brackets for the other Sumner County schools:

Conway Springs, Belle Plaine – Class 2A (see bracket here).

Conway Springs is undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the K-Preps poll. But there is a potential juggernaut of a game with No. 1 Phillipsburg in the third round. It appears that Conway Springs will host Phillipsburg, so that is good news since it is the farthest east school.

The Cardinals should end Eureka’s season next Friday, and it is highly likely they will battle Chaparral in the second round which Conway Springs beat 53-23 in week #7.

Belle Plaine, seeing the playoffs for the first time in a couple of decades, will travel to Hutchinson Trinity. That’s going to be tough. Trinity is on a four-game winning streak.

Argonia-Attica, Caldwell, Oxford – Class 8-man, Div. 1 (see bracket here)

Caldwell will be traveling to Central-Burden which incidentally enough was on the Bluejays schedule, despite them both being South-Central Border League foes.

Caldwell finished third in its district after beating Medicine Lodge this weekend 38-20.

A&A is going to have its work cut out for it when it travels to Sedan. The Blue Devils are 7-1 and champions of district 1.

Because the top four teams make the playoffs, the fifth and sixth place team will play a consolation match to fill out the nine-game schedule. Oxford, 0-8, hosts West Elk, 1-7 Friday.

South Haven – Class 8-man, Div. II (see bracket here).

South Haven travels to Stafford, which is 6-2 overall. Hard to compare these two teams, but both lost to Hutchinson Central Christian by significant amounts. Stafford lost to HCC 72-26 while South Haven lost to HCC 64-12.

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