In 2022, the school officially moved up to the 6A classification in all sports but football. Now, five years later, football will be moving up to 6A, making it the last sport to make the move.

Every year in September, schools send their enrollment counts to the Kansas State High School Activities Association, which organizes schools into groups based on enrollment numbers. For most sports, the 36 schools with the highest enrollment numbers are considered 6A. However, for football, the rankings change every two years and there are only 32 6A teams. This year was the first time the school’s enrollment was high enough to push the football team to the 6A classification.

Head football coach Joel Applebee thinks that there won’t be too much of a difference next year during the regular season since the team is already a part of the Sunflower League, which is why the team already plays mostly 6A schools during the regular season. However the playoffs will be more difficult.

“The whole playoff scene is going to be a little bit different,” Applebee said. “We see a lot of the [6A] teams during the season that we’ll be really familiar with, and there’ll be a few teams that we don’t see during the season. So it’ll be a challenge.”

Sophomore defensive lineman Josh Contreras thinks it won’t be too hard to adjust to the change since they already play mostly 6A schools.

“I’m not worried at all,” Contreras said. “I think the coaches will help us as much as they can, and that’s all we need to be successful in this upcoming season.”

Athletic director Brent Bechard is optimistic the team can still win the state title despite this being the first time officially competing in the 6A classification.

“I don’t think it’s going to change anything as far as the team goes,” Bechard said. “It’ll be a little more difficult to win four or five straight games in the playoffs. But if any program can do it, it’s definitely football.”