2022 NCKL Football Standings
NCKL Overall
Team W L W L
Abilene 1 0 1 0
Concordia 1 0 1 0
Wamego 1 0 1 0
Clay Center 0 1 0 1
Chapman 0 1 0 1
Marysville 0 1 0 1
Friday, September 2
Abilene 14, Marysville 7
Concordia 26, Chapman 20
Wamego 45, Clay Center 6
Friday, September 9
Abilene at Concordia
Clay Center at Chapman
Wamego at Marysville
By CHRISTIAN D ORR
Kansas Preps Weekly
The first two weeks of the North Central Kansas League football season in 2022 will seem like old times, as far as match ups. But, things are not like old times, on the scoreboard anyway.
The 2021 NCKL football champion, the Chapman Fighting Irish, began the 2022 season suffering a defeat at the hands of the Concordia Panthers, who finished 2021 in 3rd place in the NCKL standings.
The Abilene Cowboys began the 2022 season with something they have not experienced since 2018, a victory on the football field as the Cowboys opened the 2022 season with a 14-7 victory over NCKL foe Marysville.
The first two weeks of the 2022 NCKL season will see all six NCKL teams facing off against each other. In the opening week, Abilene defeated Marysville 14-7, Concordia topped Chapman 26-20 and Wamego defeated Clay Center 45-6.
Next week will see Abilene play at Concordia in the only NCKL showdown of undefeated teams while Clay Center will play at Chapman and Wamego will play at Marysville.
Here is a look at each NCKL school and what their respective teams did in the first week of 2022 fall sports competition :
ABILENE
The Cowboys snapped a 35-game losing streak Friday night when their defense helped hold the Marysville Bulldogs to just 7 points, coming through with a pair of 4th down stops to give the ball back to the Cowboy offense and lead to a 14-7 victory, snapping the longest losing streak in school history. Abilene had not won a game on the field since the final game of the 2018 regular season when they defeated Ulysses 26-21, but the Tigers of Ulysses started Abilene’s 35 game losing streak one week later when the Tigers defeated Abilene 28-0 in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The Cowboys will not have any time to relax as they are set to go on the road in the second week of the 2022 season in the only showdown in week 2 of the NCKL football season between undefeated teams as the Cowboys will play at Concordia, who are coming off a 26-20 victory over Chapman in the opening week of the season. … The Cowgirls opened the 2022 season by going 2-1 in a quad they hosted. The Cowgirls defeated Concordia 2-0 and Thomas More Prep-Marian 2-0, but lost 2-1 to Smoky Valley. … Abilene opened its cross country season by hosting its annual meet where the Cowboys finished in 4th place with 82 points while the Cowgirls were third with 85 points. …
CHAPMAN
The Chapman football team is coming off a 2021 season that saw them win the NCKL championship on the football field, but the Fighting Irish did not start their defense of that title on a positive note Friday night when they suffered a 26-20 loss at the hands of the Concordia Panthers in the season opener for both teams. The Fighting Irish will look to bounce back this Friday night when they play host to Clay Center in their home opener for the 2022 season. … The Lady Irish opened the 2022 season Tuesday night at Riley County where they got defeated 2-0, falling 25-16 and 25-20 in the two games. … The Chapman cross country teams ran at Abilene on Thursday to open the 2022 season where the Lady Irish finished in 4th place with 93 points while the Irish boys finished 3rd with 80 points. … The Lady Irish tennis team opened the season on Thursday when they hosted a quad with Abilene, Wamego and Concordia where Chapman finished in 2nd place.
CLAY CENTER
The Tiger football team suffered an NCKL defeat at the hands of Wamego on Friday night in the season opener for both teams. The Tigers fell 45-6 on the road at Wamego Friday night and will look to bounce back this Friday night when they stay on the road and travel to NCKL foe Chapman, which is also coming off a loss in the week’s opening game as the Irish lost their opener 26-20 at Concordia. … The Lady Tigers opened the 2022 volleyball season on Tuesday when they won two matches at Southeast of Saline. The Lady Tigers defeated Minneapolis 2-0 and also defeated the home-standing Lady Trojans 2-0. … The Tiger boys’ cross country team opened the season with a 2nd place team finish with 54 points at Concordia on Thursday, while the Lady Tigers won the team title in the meet with 35 points. … The Lady Tigers tennis team hosted a quadrangular on Thursday where they earned first place as a team to open the season. … The Lady Tigers golf team had a pair of medalists in their season-opening meet at NCKL foe Concordia on Monday.
CONCORDIA
The Panthers’ football team opened the 2022 season with a 26-20 victory over visiting Chapman Friday night and will look to keep the winning alive as they play host to the only other NCKL team that opened the 2022 season with a victory this Friday night when the Abilene Cowboys come to town. Abilene opened the season this past Friday night with a 14-7 victory over Marysville. … The Lady Panthers saw their 2022 record fall to 2-5 on the season this past Thursday when they suffered a pair of losses at the Abilene quadrangular. The Lady Panthers scored a 2-0 win over Thomas More Prep-Marian, but lost 2-0 against Abilene and 2-1 against Smoky Valley. … The Concordia cross country teams opened the 2022 season by hosting a meet where the Panther boys did not have enough runners for a team score while the Lady Panthers also only had three runners, which did not earn them a team score either. … The Lady Panther tennis team opened its season Tuesday at Ellsworth where they finished in 5th place and then played at Chapman on Thursday where their two singles players combined to go 2-4 on the day while their two doubles teams only earned one victory and finished the day with a 1-5 record. … The Lady Panther golf team opened the season by hosting a tournament on Monday, where they finished 3rd as a team with a score of 247.
MARYSVILLE
The Marysville Bulldog football team got its 2022 season off to a slow start this past Friday night when they suffered a 14-7 loss on the road at Abilene. The Bulldogs will not get things much easier in the second week of the season when they travel to Wamego for another NCKL showdown against the Red Raiders, who also opened the 2022 season with a victory when they defeated Clay Center 45-6. … The Lady Bulldog volleyball team has opened the 2022 season, according to reports, with just one victory in their first 4 matches. The Lady Dawgs suffered a loss this past Thursday when they fell 2-0 against Rock Creek, which improved to 7-0 on the season with the victory. …
WAMEGO
The Red Raiders are coming off a 2021 season that saw them go undefeated in NCKL football play, finishing with a 3-0 record and just a ½ game behind the NCKL champion, Chapman, who won the title with a 4-0 record, but those two teams never met up on the field itself. This year those things will change slightly, as the Red Raiders are scheduled to play four NCKL games, but still are not scheduled to play against Chapman. But the two teams have started the 2022 season differently as the Red Raiders opened the season with a 45-6 victory over Clay Center while Chapman suffered a 26-20 loss at the hands of Concordia. The Panthers will look to remain undefeated on the season next Friday night when they play against NCKL foe Marysville. … The Lady Raider volleyball team got its season off to a slow start this past Thursday when they suffered a loss against Basehor Linwood who defeated Wamego 22-25, 25-11, 25-2.
