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Grid Countdown No. 7: E-E's list of top area high school football games in 2023

mike tupa, bartlesville examiner-enterprise
·3 min read

There are some vital showdowns throughout the high school football season for all area teams, and the E-E has attempted to identify the 16 most significant or competitive matchups. Follow along as we examine them.

No. 16: Neodesha at Caney Valley (Kan.), Sept. 29

No. 15: Wyandotte at Oklahoma Union, Sept. 1

No. 14: Copan at Foyil, Sept. 8

No. 13: Caney Valley at Nowata, Sept. 22

No. 12: Barnsdall at Copan, Aug. 25

No. 11: Miami at Dewey, Aug. 25

No. 10: Haskell at Caney Valley, Sept. 1

No. 9: Bartlesville at Tahlequah, Nov. 4

No. 8: Bartlesville at Sand Springs, Oct. 19

Next up...

No. 7: Humboldt (Kan.) at Caney Valley (Kan.), Sept. 8

When it comes to the area's great football rivalries, the Caney Valley-Humboldt annual collision raises as much emotional dust as any of them.

Even though this year's game will be just a Week 2 showdown, the repercussions could reverberate through the regular season and into the regular season.

The Humboldt Cubs have filled the role as the Caney Valley Bullpups' most dangerous Tri-Valley League combatant in the 2000s. Following is a look at the Pups' series records since 2004 against Tri-Valley foes (Note: The teams haven't met in some years between 2004-2022, or they collided in the playoffs):

  • Eureka: CV leads series, 19-0

  • Neodesha: CV leads series, 16-2

  • Fredonia: CV leaders series, 15-2

  • Cherryvale: CV leads series, 14-3

  • Burlington: CV leads series, 10-3

  • Humboldt: CV leads series, 9-6

One example amplifies the fierceness of the series. Starting in 2007 and ending in 2015, Caney Valley won 40 straight games in Tri-Valley play. The team that beat the Pups on both ends of that streak? Humboldt.

Humboldt defeated the Pups, 24-8, in Week 5 in 2007 — the only league loss for the Pups until Week 3 in 2015 when they fell to Humboldt, 22-20.

"It's always a big game that dates back a lot of years," said Pups' head coach Criss Davis. "It's (the league title) come down between us and them the last seven or eight years of league play. … It's always been two very physical teams that got after it."

Following a four-season hiatus (2018-21), due to a change of districts, the series resumed in 2022, with Humboldt winning 24-0 and a topsy-turvy turnover tweaked the tone.

In the second quarter, with the score knotted, 0-0, a Humboldt defender deflected the ball on an option play pitch, knocked it loose, scooped it up and scored. Humboldt led only 7-0 with six minutes to go in the game before finishing with a flurry of points.

"It should have been 0-0 (going into the four quarter," Davis said. "It was the luck of the bounce, I guess I would say."

Both teams lost impact running backs from last season: Humboldt's Trey Sommer has taken his talent to Emporia (Kan.) State and Caney Valley bid goodbye to 1,200-yard rusher Astin King.

Davis welcomes back last year's starting quarterback Garrett Watson and 1,000-yard rusher Jackson Griffin at halfback. Some other key Caney Valley returnees are linemen Jack Murphy (6-5, 210), Ace Koester and Aden Gorby (6-0, 250).

"We've got some positions to fill, but we'll be all right," Davis said.

The steamy showdown in Week 2 will provide an early-season indicator of where the Pups stand.

Six closest meetings since 2004

  • 2015: Humboldt 22, CVHS 20

  • 2006: Humboldt 17, CVHS 10

  • 2017: CVHS 20, Humboldt 8

  • 2004: Humboldt 28, CVHS 14

  • 2008: Humboldt 24, CVHS 8

  • 2005: CVHS 26, Humboldt 9

*Note: The teams didn't meet from 2018-2021.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Grid Countdown No. 7: Humboldt (Kansas) at Caney Valley (Kansas)