After giving up a long touchdown on Weskan’s first drive of the game, the Cunningham Wildcats scored 51 unanswered points en route to a 51-8 victory in the Kansas Six-Man football state championship game Saturday afternoon at Greensburg-Kiowa County High School Stadium.
Cunningham’s Skyler Thimesch ran for four touchdowns and quarterback Stephen Kerschen ran for two TDs and passed for another.
Cunningham, which won its second KSHSAA-sanctioned Six-Man title (the Wildcats’ first title came in 2022) finished the season with a 12-1 record. Weskan posted an 11-2 record in 2025.
Weskan struck first with 7:43 left in the first quarter on a 46-yard touchdown run by Karsyn Wright. The 2-point conversion gave the Coyotes an 8-0 lead.
With 9:43 left in the second quarter, Cunningham’s Thimesch scored from 3 yards out on a fourth down play.
On the Coyotes’ next two series, they committed two straight turnovers. The Wildcats did not score on the first miscue, but Cunningham’s Brody Brock scooped up a fumble and scored to put the Wildcats ahead 12-8 with 6:27 left in the first half.
After Cunningham stopped Weskan on downs, Kerschen scrambled to his left and lofted a TD pass across the field to a wide-open Dylan Halderson. The extra point kick was good.
Cunningham led 19-8 with 2:39 left in the first half and that was the halftime score.
Thimesch opened the second half with a 40-yard TD run. The PAT kick failed for a 25-8 Cunningham lead with 7:58 left in the frame.
After a fourth down stop by the Wildcats’ defense, Kerschen broke loose for a 38-yard TD run. Cunningham added the 2-point conversion pass to make the score 32-8 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.
Thimesch scored his third TD of the game on a 7-yard run with 5 minutes left in the contest. The extra point kick made the score 39-8.
Then Cunningham recovered on onside kick and Kerschen scored on the next play for a 45-6 lead with 5:10 left in the game.
Thimesch tacked on another long TD run to make the score 51-8 with 2:34 left in the contest.
Weskan 8 0 0 0 — 8
Cunningham 0 19 13 19 — 51
W — Karsyn Wright 46 run (kick good), 7:43 1Q
C — Skyler Thimesch 3 run (PAT failed), 9:49 2Q
C — Brody Brock fumble return (PAT failed), 6:27 2Q
C — Dylan Halderson pass from Stephen Kerschen (kick good), 2:39 2Q
C — Thimesch 40 run (kick good), 7:58 3Q
C — Kerschen 38 run (PAT pass good), 5:18 3Q
C — Thimesch 7 run (PAT kick good), 5:22 4Q
C — Kerschen run (PAT failed), 5:10 4Q
C — Thimesch run (PAT failed), 2:34 4Q
