Red Demons to host Campus in 6A West First Round

DODGE CITY, Kan. — The Dodge City High School Red Demons will host the Campus Colts in the first round of the class 6A West playoffs on Friday night at Memorial Stadium with kickoff at 7:00 p.m. The Red Demons enter the playoffs with an 8-0 record and are the No. 2 seed in the west, while Campus comes in with a 1-7 record and are seeded 15th in the west.

This will be the fourth overall meeting on the gridiron between the Red Demons and the Colts with the first game coming back in the first round of the 2010 state playoffs, a game won by Dodge City, 42-14. The Colts defeated Dodge City 47-9 in week one of the 2018 season. Dodge City then defeated the Colts, 34-12 in week one of this season back on Sept. 6 in Haysville. 

The Red Demons finished off the regular season unbeaten for the 14th time in program history and won their 11th Western Athletic Conference title with a 45-6 victory last Friday night at home against Liberal. The Colts’ 1-7 record marks the worst season since 2014 when the Colts finished 1-8 and just like this season, the lone Campus win came in the final game of the regular season.

The Dodge City defense has been stellar this season, forcing 18 turnovers through the regular season, including 2 or more in seven of the eight games. The Red Demons are also giving up just under 14 points per game, that’s 12 points less than they gave up through the regular season last year. One other stat that sticks out is the defensive pressure, Dodge City has sacked opposing quarterbacks 12 times thus far, that’s double the amount the Red Demons had at this point last season. The Red Demons feasted on the Colts in the week one game, as junior Alden Knedler picked off Nathan Bowen three times in the contest.

Campus has switched up offenses from the past several years under new head coach Jamie Cruce. Cruce was very successful running the flex bone offense during his time at Pratt High School, but has had troubles finding success this year at the 6A level. The Colts are led by Bowen under center and will use Brayden Tunnell, Jakob Dorton and Corbin Williams as the three backs in the flex bone. The Colts will also use Tate Rico out wide as a receiver and target him a majority of the time.

The winner of this first round game will take on the winner of No. 7 Junction City (6-2) and No. 10 Wichita Southeast (3-5) in the Regional round next Friday night. Dodge City is looking to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the second straight year, while Campus is trying to make it past the first round for the third consecutive season.

Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on 98.1 FM, Z98 Mobile App, or westernkansasnews.com/z98 with Phil Stephenson and the Voice of the Red Demons, Sean Boston. You can also stream the game live on http://dchssports.com/demonvision-live/