A new season of high school football is set to kick off under the lights tonight in Wayland when the WACO Warriors clash with the Central City Wildcats in the Area Football Game of the Week, exclusively on the KCII3 Stream.

A new head coach will pace the sidelines for the visitors from Central City. Matt Weber will be the new face of a Wildcat team that went 8-2 last season with an undefeated 6-0 mark in district play before seeing their season come to a close in the second round of the 8-Man playoffs at the hands of Gladbrook-Reinbeck. The Wildcats return plenty of standouts from last year’s team, including Seniors Matthew Klostermann, Nolan Gates and Max Arthur. In 2023, Central City averaged 47.1 points-per-game while only giving up 20.2, thanks to players like Klostermann, Gates and Arthur who combined for over 100 tackles, five sacks, 13 tackles for loss, five fumble recoveries and three interceptions. Central City’s 33.5 sacks were good enough for fifth-best in 8-Man last season. On offense, both the pass and running game were efficient, as the Wildcats managed to toss 15 touchdowns through the air without throwing a pick. As a team, Central City put up over 2,600 yards rushing, and their 8.7 yards-per-carry were third-best in all of 8-Man.

On the other side, the home WACO Warriors come into 2024 off the back of a 7-2 campaign last season with the only loss in district play coming to state semifinalist Winfield-Mount Union. Key returners for the Warriors include senior signal-caller Clayton Miller, senior running back Louden Huisenga, senior wide receiver Gage Samo and senior tight end Joel Meyer. WACO put up 43.1 points-per-game last season, compiling 899 pass and 1,627 rush yards along the way. Nineteen touchdowns came through the air last season for the Warriors, with 34 coming on the ground. On defense, WACO allowed just 18.2 points-per-game, notching 13 sacks, 59 tackles for loss, eight fumble recoveries and 17 picks, good enough for fourth-best in 8-Man. WACO had two kick return touchdowns as well as one punt return touchdown in 2023.

WACO owns the only victory in the series dating back to 2022 when the Warriors beat Central City in the second round of the 8-Man playoffs on their way to a state championship game appearance.

Catch all of the action live tonight on the KCII3 Stream, exclusively on KCIIRadio.com with the pregame show at 6:30 with kickoff at 7 from WACO High School.