by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The playoff implications for Wellington this Thursday are easy. Win and the Crusaders are in the playoffs. Lose and they are out. It is as simple as that… In other Sumner County football news, Conway Springs and Douglass are vying for a district championship in Class 3A District 9. All other playoff situations for Sumner County teams have been determined with South Haven qualifying and everyone else already eliminated.

WELLINGTON AT WINFIELD

Winfield (5-3), Wellington (5-3) Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Southwestern College. 

 

The synopsis: Here’s a rally cry Wellington players could use before the Winfield football game.

“Win one for the Giffer!”

It will be longtime assistant coach John Gifford’s final regular season game Thursday when Wellington travels to Winfield. Gifford, who has been a Crusaders’ coach in one capacity or the other since 1971, will be retiring after this year.

His final regular season game will be an important one. Quite simply, it will be a playoff game in itself.

Wellington wins it advances to the playoffs for the first time since 2010. If Wellington loses then it is equipment check-out time.

Wellington and Winfield have played each other three times since 2010. Before that the series had been dormant for 30 years. And the two teams aren’t scheduled to play in the regular season in 2014 or 2015 either.

In those three years, Wellington and Winfield have played some strange football games. In 2010, Wellington got in the playoffs thanks to an interception runback for a touchdown late that gave it enough points to get into the post season that year because of the crazy tie-breaking point system.

The past two years, Wellington has played some miserable football against the Vikes, losing more because of turnovers and other miscalculated execution than anything else.

This year, Wellington returns to Winfield in hopes of a victory.

“This may be the most talented team we will see other than Andale and Collegiate,” said Wellington head football coach Tyler Ryan. “They are very fast and have a lot of talent in the skill positions.”

But Winfield has trouble with consistency. After beating Mulvane the week before, Clearwater was able to escape with an 18-15 victory.  The Vikings opened the season like gangbusters rattling off a 4-1 record including a 28-17 victory over McPherson.

Yet in the last three weeks, Winfield has struggled losing to Buhler and Clearwater and winning a squeaker against Mulvane 20-14. So it depends what Viking team will show up on Thursday night.

Wellington hasn’t exactly been a model of consistency as of late either. After playing a near flawless game against Clearwater, the Crusaders were snake bit against Mulvane. Yes, everyone knows about the touchdown made into an interception. But Wellington also had two other key turnovers, and six false start penalties. The Crusaders, so disciplined against Clearwater, were anything but last Friday.

Again Wellington has an opportunity to get into the playoffs. It’s a do-or-die moment. After 17 consecutive years of doing just that, it seems to be a difficult proposition of starting a new streak as of late. That can change Thursday.

 

Follow the game: Twitter: Cueballnewscow. Radio: Adrian Young, play-by-play, KLEY-AM 1130. Television: Sumner Cable TV, Channel 5 (audio). Photos and recaps: Wellington.cc and Sumner Newscow.

 

Game night weather: It will be Halloween night, by the way. Trick or treat early and then bring your ghosts and goblins over for a football game. Weather wise, rain is predicted early in the day but it should be clear Thursday night with the low being 41 degrees. It’s just that time of year when people should bundle up.

 

The Topeka Capital-Journal computerized picks: None available at this writing. Thursday night games messes up everything.

 

District scenario: 

District 12 – This is easy, all four teams are 1-1 so the winners of each game will make the playoffs, and those two teams will be compared head-to-head.  Whichever of the two winners beat the other head-to-head will be the district champion, and the other will qualify as the runner-up.  Wellington holds the head-to-head tie breaker over Clearwater, while Mulvane holds the advantage over Wellington. Clearwater beat Winfield head-to-head and Winfield beat Mulvane. Clearwater is at Mulvane in the other game. For all the playoff scenarios click here.

 

Series history: Wellington leads this series 36-15-5. The Vikings, though, hold a 2-1 edge in recent history.

 

Wellington leads series 36-14-5

1920 — Wellington 30 Winfield 7

1921 — Wellington 0 Winfield 46

1922 — Wellington 0 Winfield 31

1923 — Wellington 0 Winfield 70

1924 — Wellington 20 Winfield 7

1928 — Wellington 64 Winfield 0

1929 — Wellington 12 Winfield 0

1930 — Wellington 3 Winfield 0

1931 — Wellington 0 Winfield 7

1932 — Wellington 6 Winfield 6

1941 — Wellington 18 Winfield 6

1942 — Wellington 0 Winfield 7

1943 — Wellington 58 Winfield 12

1944 — Wellington 34 Winfield 6

1945 — Wellington 34 Winfield 7

1946 — Wellington 44 Winfield 2

1947 — Wellington 7 Winfield 6

1948 — Wellington 7 Winfield 0

1949 — Wellington 7 Winfield 7

1950 — Wellington 65 Winfield 0

1951 — Wellington 31 Winfield 6

1952 — Wellington 39 Winfield 13

1953 — Wellington 26 Winfield 14

1954 — Wellington 32 Winfield 0

1955 — Wellington 34 Winfield 13

1956 — Wellington 37 Winfield 0

1957 — Wellington 13 Winfield 12

1958 — Wellington 13 Winfield 6

1959 — Wellington 13 Winfield 6

1960 — Wellington 25 Winfield 13.

1961 — Wellington 7 Winfield 7

1962 — Wellington 0 Winfield 0

1963 — Wellington 27 Winfield 0

1964 — Wellington 6 Winfield 7

1965 — Wellington 7 Winfield 0

1966 — Wellington 13 Winfield 14

1967 — Wellington 20 Winfield 14

1968 — Wellington 27 Winfield 0

1969 — Wellington 16 Winfield 9

1970 — Wellington 36 Winfield 15

1971 — Wellington 14 Winfield 0

1972 — Wellington 19 Winfield 7

1973 — Wellington 6 Winfield 15

1974 — Wellington 14 Winfield 8

1975 — Wellington 7 Winfield 14

1976 — Wellington 0 Winfield 27

1977 — Wellington 37 Winfield 7

1979 — Wellington 10 Winfield 3

1980 — Wellington 0 Winfield 29

2010 — Wellington 35 Winfield 19

2011 — Wellington 28 Winfield 47

2012 — Wellington 7 Winfield 21

 

 

2013 season thus far: 

Wellington: 

Sept. 6	Goddard	Wellington wins 34-28.
Sept. 13	Concordia	Wellington wins 27-6.
Sept. 20	Augusta	Wellington wins 19-10.
Sept. 27	Collegiate	Collegiate wins 49-21.
Oct. 4	Circle	Wellington wins 43-0.
Oct. 11	Andale	Andale wins 65-0.
Oct. 18	Clearwater	Wellington wins 21-19
Oct. 25	Mulvane	Mulvane wins 30-14
Oct. 31	Winfield	away

 

Winfield: 

Winfield 44 Marysville 8

Winfield 29 Circle 7

Winfield 42 El Dorado 7

Rose Hill 27 Winfield 24

Winfield 28 McPherson 17

Buhler 41 Winfield 13

Winfield 20 Mulvane 14

Clearwater 18 Winfield 15

 

Game’s significance: Essentially a playoff game. Winner advances to the playoff, loser stays home.

 

Injury situation: Colin Reichenberger, Wellington’s speedy receiver got six stitches in his leg near his knee cap. How this will affect his performance in the upcoming game is left to be determined. He will be playing.

 

AV-CTL standings: 

Wellington wraps up third place in the AV-CTL Div. IV. Neither Winfield or Mulvane are league opponents. They are both in AV-CTL Div. III.

	League			Overall			Points
Team	Wins	Loss	Pct.	Wins	Loss	Pct.	For	Against
Andale	5	0	1.000	7	0	1.000	331	85
Wichita Collegiate	3	1	.750	4	3	.571	257	137
Wellington	3	2	.600	5	2	.714	165	177
Clearwater	2	3	.400	4	3	.571	181	162
Augusta	1	3	.250	1	6	.143	120	258
Circle	0	5	0	0	7	0	61	302

 

•••••

Other Sumner County games:

Douglass at Conway Springs — Both teams have wrapped up a playoff berth, but this will be for the district championship. Both teams are 2-0. Conway Springs, which has been passing the ball a lot more this year, is still the heavy favorite going in. The Cardinals have experience playing the big games. The Bulldogs don’t.

 

Chaparral at Belle Plaine— The Dragons hope to avert a winless season. Neither team will be making the playoffs so this should be a let it rip kind of game.

 

Central-Burden at South Haven— South Haven has clinched another playoff berth, this time as a district runner-up. The Cardinals should have little trouble with Central that is 2-6.

 

West Elk at Oxford — The Wildcats will have their third winning season since being in eight-man football. West Elk is District and South-Central Border League Champions. This could be a chance for Oxford to finish the season by messing up the Patriot’s perfect record. It would be a great way to start the off-season.

 

A@A Titans at Burrton — This was the one game Argonia won last year. A&A will have completed a very successful debut season with a win here.

 

Norwich at Caldwell — Caldwell is currently 2-6 after a promising start and dreams of returning to the playoffs. Injuries completely decimated this team.