Week 6 Game of the Week: Wichita Collegiate at Andale

ANDALE, Kan. (KSNW) — Week six of the high school football season is here, and so is our sixth Game of the Week. This go-around, we have a fun matchup between a pair of top-five teams in 3A, with the Wichita Collegiate Spartans going on the road to play the Andale Indians.

Andale, for those of you keeping track, has their nation-leading win streak up to 55 games now. Head Coach Dylan Schmidt has yet to lose to Collegiate as the head man in Andale, but he believes they are providing a tough challenge for an Andale team looking for their fifth-straight state championship.

“The thing that is impressive is how much they’ve mixed it up there,” said Schmidt. “It’s pretty even reception-wise. I’ve been impressed up front with what they’ve done. It’s just impressive the wins that they’ve had so far. The amount they’re winning by. They’re just a balanced team, and when I say that, I mean they can throw it, they can run it. They play great defense, they play great special teams, and Troy and his staff just do a great job over there.”

You can tell this is too well-coached of a bunch to really feel the pressure of that win streak. The team takes it week by week, and it’s a reason why every player on the team who’s not a freshman has won at least one state championship.

“This is the very first game against an undefeated team, and every year they’re a very good opponent,” explained Andale senior tight end Karson Butts. “So, this should be a good game. We know that they have a good passing game, and that’s what we really have to work on this week and get better because we know they have a decent quarterback. And we have to take that away.”

Andale’s players know they will need to lock in defensively if they hope to make the streak 56 by the end of Friday night.

“This is our first real threat,” added Andale senior linebacker Owen Eck. “They got a good passing game and some big tall dudes, but I think we can shut it down. I think we have a good game plan.”

You don’t have to tell the Collegiate Spartans that they have their hands full. They know everything about their rival to the west. As Schmidt said, Collegiate has some great coaching and weapons of their own.

Collegiate Head Coach Troy Black says they will need to be hitting on all cylinders if they hope to bring home an upset victory over the top team in the state.

“They’re well-prepared, they’re well-coached, they’re very disciplined, and they just don’t make mistakes,” said Black. “When you see that, it makes you kind of think we have to play the perfect game. We haven’t been able to do that over the last few years, so that’s kind of our goal. We’ve got to do what we do, and we have to force mistakes and do some things. They’re a great program, great coaches, great kids, great community, and they do things right. They take a lot of pride in what they do. There’s a reason why they have the longest winning streak in the country.”

Both teams enter this matchup undefeated, but as Coach Black mentioned, Andale is, of course, still carrying that best-in-the-country win streak into this matchup.

“I just have to believe in what I’ve worked for,” explained Collegiate senior quarterback Hudson Ferralez. “Know that my teammates have my back, and I have their back. At the start of the game, we are both 0-0 at that point. Regardless of win or loss, we’re there to get better and to make a statement.”

Many of the players believe their experience playing Andale the past couple of seasons has them prepared for this matchup.

“Just more of playing at that speed,” Collegiate senior linebacker Asa Ahmad added. “The more and more I see it, some of us were two steps behind, then a step behind, and I think this year, you just really play at their speed and their physicality. That’s also another thing we didn’t do at times, is just play at their physicality. Some people get scared, but you can’t get scared. You got to go in there, and you got to go to war.”