The best high school football games in Wichita semifinals

WICHITA, Kan. (Catch it Kansas) – Wichita, we have a problem.

It's a problem for next week, but it's never too early to explore solutions.

You see, several of next week's state championship games — in economically pristine nine classes — will be played on Saturday. The Friday Five always serves as a preview for upcoming games, but is called that because those upcoming games happen to be played on Fridays. That won't quite be the case next week. Is a weeklong renaming of the world's most popular high school football column in the offing?

Well, you'll hear that next Friday. For now, let's get started. It's the semifinals and Wichita-area teams are pretty much everywhere. There are some nice matchups this week, some matchups that at least look strong on paper and, one way or another, some potential blowouts.

Let's get started, a different way of saying let's get started, but still a nice ending to an opening without a natural ending.

Manhattan (11-0) at Derby (11-0), Class 6A

You have to wonder what's happening in Manhattan right now.

Here in Wichita, we've watched Derby play all year and marked coach Brandon Clark's nearly two-decade tenure with state championships — he's won six, all since 2013. So while we may not want to say it out loud, we have I don't really feel like Manhattan has much of a chance in this. Derby's starters have played 22 quarters in 11 games this season, always quitting early as the Panthers' halftime average is 206-4. Don't check that math.

But shouldn't they feel the same way in Manhattan? The school also has a longtime state championship-winning coach: Joe Schartz. The team is undefeated and it is probably not controversial to say that Manhattan's schedule has been tougher than Derby's, with wins over Hays, Lawrence Free State and Junction City, and two over Northwest.

Do they secretly mutter to themselves in Manhattan: Derby can't stay with us? Well, maybe.

But let's be serious. Derby just seem to be on a different level this season. Yes, the games have become a little tougher: the 42 points Derby have allowed in the past two weeks are just eleven fewer than the Panthers have in their other nine games combined. And yet those were 42-14 and 63-28 wins over Junction City and East.

We're still not ready to say the quiet part out loud, but we will say this: Manhattan is a heavy underdog here.

Hays (7-4) at Goddard Eisenhower (9-2), Class 5A

This game feels like a collision of potential.

Hays has seemingly beaten the odds to advance this far, with a tremendously difficult run through the playoffs that included wins over Andover, Great Bend and Hutchinson, three teams that matched or bettered Hays' 4-4 regular-season record . In any case, the win over Great Bend easily qualifies as an upset.

And while we'll never say Eisenhower hasn't lived up to its potential if it doesn't win or even play in the state championship, it feels like we're just not quite sure what the Tigers are capable of.

They lost their two toughest regular season games, to Andover Central and Northwest, albeit by a total of four points. And their postseason run has been less strenuous — Eisenhower has defeated Emporia, Maize South and Topeka Seaman by a combined score of 136-50, and the math basically boils down to that.

So what we have are two teams that usually meet in the same place – one looking to put a mediocre season completely behind them and the other trying to break through against a good opponent. If both teams have something to prove, you're likely to get a spirited effort, a match full of drama and a game that will only be decided in the final minutes.

And there's only one team that walks away and says, we did that.