It's a battle of 10-0 state ranked teams and the first meeting since 1999 as Holton host Girard Friday in the 3A Sectionals. 

Number five ranked Girard had a 17-21 total record the previous four years before this breakthrough campaign which is their best season since 1999 when they finished 11-1 and lost to Holton in one the Trojans three Sub-State appearances. Girard has won all of their games by at least 19 points except for a 13-6 District and CNC championship win against Frontenac in week eight and then beat Caney Valley and Parsons the past two weeks. Girard is deep with only three athletes that start on both offense and defense and while they have lots of speed and quickness, they only start one lineman over 200 pounds, right guard Aarick Williams (6'1, 230, junior). 

Girard has outscored their opponents by a 35-10 average margin with a mean of 342 yards per game, 241 of which come on the ground and only turned the ball over 5 times all year. Luke Niggemann (6'3, 185, junior) has thrown for 1,016 yards while Alex Coester (6'1, 170, junior) has 635 yards rushing and Ethan Merrell (6'1, 210, senior) has ran for 636. Both back had over 140 rushing last week against Parsons in a 32-13 win. The Trojan defense is only giving up 213 yards per contest with only 107 rushing. 

Holton meanwhile averages 357 yards rushing per game and more than 8 yards per carry. They ran for 410 last week in a dominating 41-0 shutout against Big 7 foe Perry Lecompton. The Cats also average 33 passing yards per game, but have not called a pass play the past two weeks . Garyson Booth ran for 190 yards and two scores last week and now leads the Wildcats with 812 yards this season. Jayden Fletcher returned from a two-game absence and ran for 75 yards to push his season total to 736 and two other juniors have helped balance the backfield with QB Matt Lierz running fro 577 yards and fullback Jace Boswell racking up 570. They run behind a senior led experienced line that averages 245 pounds.   

Fourth ranked Holton has outscored their opponents by an average score of 41-10 and has won all their games by 20 since close games against Nemaha Central and Chapman the first two weeks of the season. Senior Cayden Jackson leads Holton in tackles with fellow senior corners Jace Hallauer and Lucas Adcock combining for 5 of the Cats 10 interceptions the past five weeks. The Wildcat defense also had 39 tackles for a loss this fall which has helped them claim their first Big 7 League title since 2014 and 10-0 start for the first time since 2013. 

Girard is coached by Neal Philpot who graduated at Norton High School before becoming an All-American quarterback at Pittsburg State. He was an offensive coordinator at Ottawa University for a couple years before taking the Girard job five years ago. Brooks Barta, who hailed from Smith Center before becoming a four-time First-Team Big 8 linebacker with 436 total tackles that ranks second all time at Kansas State, is in his 26th season in Holton and coached his 300th game two weeks ago while compiling 245 wins including 53 in the playoffs as Holton has been in the post season for 23 consecutive years. 

Holton raced out to an early lead and beat Girard 51-7 on a Saturday afternoon game in the schools only previous meeting in 1999. There are no common opponents between the teams this year and Girard is playing their first road game since week since on October 8th. Kickoff is at 7 PM and live coverage on The Holton Channel via MSC Sports. The winner of tonight's showdown will face the victor of Frontenac versus Rock Creek in Sub-State next week.