Wildcats vs. Raiders in sectional football

The 10-0 Frontenac Raiders of the  Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League in southeast Kansas will visit 6-4 Holton here in northeast Kansas Friday evening in the sectional round of the Kansas Class 4A-DII football playoffs.

It will be a rematch from last year’s sectional playoff game in which Holton won 22-7 at Frontenac.

While both teams entered last year’s game at 7-3, this year the Raiders barely broke a sweat in their first seven games, outscoring opponents in those seven games by a wide 324-47 margin.

After edging Columbus by the score of 21-20 in their eighth game, the Raiders’ coach said the matchup had provided his team a taste of adversity – something they had not seen much of earlier in the season.

Frontenac’s game scores so far this season are listed below:

*Frontenanc won 40-12 over Girard.

*Frontenac won 33-14 over Galena.

*Frotenanc won 28-7 over Pittsburg-Colgan.

*Frontenac won 55-0 over Riverton.

*Frontenac won 70-0 over Southeast of Cherokee.

*Frontenac won 43-0 over Labette County.

*Frontenac won 55-14 over Parsons.

*Frontenac won 21-20 over Columbus.

*Frontenac won 48-0 over Baxter Springs.

*Frontenac won 56-14 over Iola.

When the Raiders come to Holton Friday, they will be bringing with them some of the same key players from last year’s team – most notably, QB Brandon Mlekus, now a senior.

“Frontenac has a very athletic and special quarterback,’’ Holton coach Brooks Barta acknowledged earlier this week. “We will have to contain him and force them into long yardage situations. It was an exciting game last year. It will be the same this year.’’

Coach Barta said the Fronteanc team is similar in some ways to Atchison.

In order for the Wildcats to continue to survive and advance against Frontenac, he said, the Wildcats will have to do four things well – pick up first downs, play penalty free, tackle well and finish blocks.

In their regional playoff victory over Baldwin last week, the Wildcats played well defensively but did not score any points in the second half of the game.

“I think the turf (at Baldwin’s field) helped both teams on defense,’’ coach Barta said. “Neither team maintained blocks very well. Defenders were able to keep their feet and slide off blocks. I thought Baldwin played better on defense than we might have expected. They played fast and tackled well.’’

Against Baldwin, Holton’s defense stopped the Bulldogs when they had to.

“Our secondary did a nice job of covering up their routes and taking away the pass,’’ coach Barta said. “We tackled well on the quick hitches and screens to the perimeter without giving up yards after the catch. Our defensive line made a lot of plays against their run game. We need that to happen.’’

Coach Barta said a lot of practice time this week is being devoted to improving offensive line play.

“We did not block well at all (against Baldwin),’’ the coach said. “We are working on finishing blocks and getting the simple four yards. Five-yard penalties really hurt us last week. We need to stay penalty free and get our four to five yard runs.’’