Wamego has had Buhler’s number the last two years during the regular season, winning 29-16 in 2024 and 27-14 earlier this season (Oct. 3).
However, Buhler exacted revenge on Wamego 28-14 in the playoffs last season and would like to repeat that again in the Kansas Class 4A state regional round.
The Crusaders take a 6-3 record to Wamego to play the Red Raiders (7-2) in just the fourth game of the series. Kickoff is 6 p.m. Friday with coverage starting at 5:30 p.m. on KWHK 9.5.9-FM.
The Buhler-Wamego winner advances to the sectional round Nov. 14 against the Augusta (4-5) vs. Mulvane (8-1) regional winner.
“We are excited to get revenge on Wamego again like we did last year,” said Buhler football coach Steve Warner in his weekly round table newsletter released on Wednesday. “I like being the underdog going into this game. We learned a lot from the loss at McPherson (21-15 on Oct. 24 at McPherson) and we are going to come out and compete at a very high level.
“This year, we want to beat them and advance to the Elite 8. Wamego has a very physical defense that did a great job of stopping our running game in Game 1 this year. We have to do a better job of not allowing Wamego to penetrate. They slant and move their defensive linemen. This created issues for our offensive linemen.”
Warner said the Red Raiders run several different fronts on defense and have a very versatile quarterback in junior Logan Fulton leading the offense. Fulton threw for 201 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Buhler on Oct. 3 and added 76 yards rushing and another TD.
“They run a four-man line and a five-man line,” Warner said. “They will stem (shift the linemen right before the snap) before the snap to try and confuse our linemen. Our linemen will have to recognize the front and handle the movement of their defensive line.
“Wamego’s offense they have a very good quarterback that is strong and can break tackles. He can also throw on the run very well. We have to contain him in the running game and get pressure on him when he
wants to throw the ball.
“They will run multiple sets and they will try and confuse our defense with the multiple sets. But in Game 1, they had 96 yards rushing and 205 yards passing. We had two sacks in the game. We have to get more pressure on the quarterback and this will help stop their passing attack.”
Warner said other big factors in the Game 1 loss to Wamego were three turnovers and penalties.
“We have to take care of the football,” Warner said. “We had eight total penalties. We had three penalties because we did not align correctly, we also had two penalties with 12 men in the huddle. These are inexcusable penalties. We have not had a penalty like these since we lost that game.”
