12 October 2023
CHENEY, Kan. (KSNW) — Week seven of the high school football season is here and so is our seventh game of the week, and we have an awesome matchup between the two top dogs in the 3A class in #1 Andale and #2 Cheney.
These two rivals have cruised through their opponents this season with ease. Both teams enter this matchup 6-0 and combined they’ve outscored their opponents this season by 606 points.
“We just got to play fast off the ball,” said Cheney junior quarterback Josh Burdick. “With how fast they play, we just have to win the line of scrimmage and play physical and play fast. Just have to treat it like any other game and go into it preparing like you always do.”
Let’s begin with Cheney, who is undefeated this season and has allowed exactly zero points in the last four games. They know their defense will be tested by the Andale Indians this Friday.
“The intensity that they play with,” said Cheney head coach Shelby Wehrman. “You know how they make football important over there. They are always going hard, they study, they know the game, they know how to play. They’re well-coached. It’s the whole deal. They execute, and it’s the speed with which they execute. You can’t practice against it. They’re so fast. Usually, the fastest 11 players on the field are on Andale’s team.”
On offense, there’s one theme resonating throughout the team: they have to take care of the football if they have any chance to get the job done.
“When we’re on offense, we cannot turn the ball over,” explained Cheney senior wide receiver and linebacker, Jackson Voth. “We need every offensive possession we can to score. We can’t have lackluster penalties or pat ourselves back behind the chains to make it more difficult than a regular first and 10.”
For Andale, they are ready for yet another chance to prove that no one is on their level, but they know Cheney is going to be a challenge.
“We’re just going to have to play our best and have perfect effort all the way throughout the game,” said Andale’s sophomore quarterback, Sam Harp. “We know they’re a good opponent so we’re really ready for them. I’d say their D-Line is pretty big and they have Jack Voth at linebacker and he was really good last year too and he’s really good this year. But, we’re going to try and find some holes and expose so we’ll see what we can do.”
Andale players and coaches say they understand the challenge ahead of them if they want to extend their nation-leading winning streak to 58 games in a row come Friday night.
“They’re a really good football team,” added Andale head coach Dylan Schmidt. “I guess we’re ranked number 1 and they’re ranked number 2 and I think there’s a reason for both of those. Last year was a super competitive game. We ended up winning the game 32-0 or 32-6, but they made us earn it the whole time. It was just tough yards and they’re talented offensively, they’re putting up a lot of points and blowing teams out like we are. There’s a reason why they’re undefeated.”