Wichita County High School

The early years of high school football in Wichita County are rather sketchy. From studying the Leoti Standard it appears that WCHS first played organized football in 1925, but there are indications that a game may have been tried sooner than that. In that 1925 season there was a loss and a tie to Sharon Springs and a loss and tie to Weskan. The first recorded victory for WCHS came October 7, 1927 with a 6-0 win over Sharon Springs. The early years of football in Wichita County were a struggle because of problems involved with acquiring equipment and scheduling other teams. Games were played in 1927 1926, and 1927 and then no games were played until 1931. Football again was played in 1932 but not in 1933. The 1934 Season marks the beginning of continuous play for WCHS as organized football has been played ever since. The first successful season was 1936. In that year a new league was formed, the Western Kansas Educators Association, consisting of Leoti, Scott City, and Ransom. This League still exists today although Leoti withdrew from it in 1978. In 1936 the Leoti team had a record of 5-2 for their first winning record in their history. In 1934 Leoti played its first game under the lights losing to a fine Oakley team at Oakley. The first night game to be played in Leoti Occurred on October 6, 1936 when WCHS defeated the Colby "B" team 13-6. the 1937 team was coached by William Seigle, a man who knew a great deal about football as he had played professionally with the New York Giants. The 1937 team had a had a fine record of 4-1-2 and tied for the WKEA title with Bazine, a new applicant to the league. In 1938 Leoti had a losing season going 3-4-1 but one of those victories marked the beginning of a rivalry with Tribune. It was a unique six-man game which Leoti won 24-0. One of the best teams in Leoti history emerged in 1940. This Team was undefeated and won the league outright. The only blemishes on their records were ties with Ness City and Syracuse. Probably the best team ever produced by Leoti was the 1942. This team was undefeated, untied, undisputed league champions and allowed only 13 points to be scored upon them in the entire season. There is little information available on the '44 and '45 teams as the paper concentrated on World War II and did not report many sports stories. The 1949 team coached by Cecil Dyrer was another good one, going 5-3 and placing second in the league. the 1952 season inaugurated a horrendous losing season for Leoti. They lost seventeen games in a row before defeating Sharon Springs on November 11, 1953 to end the streak. 1957 marked a return to the respectability as Leoti went 6-3 and took second in the league. The following year, 1958, WCHS went 6-2-1 and tied for first in the league with Dighton. In 1964 the team went 6-3 and placed second in the WKEA. another excellent team was the 1970 team coached by Joe Girardi who later coached at Baker University. This team went 7-2, won the league, and holds many of the modern records for defense that have been kept.

In 1973 WCHS started a string of winning seasons that continued until 1983. in 1975 Leoti went 7-2 and won the WKEA and in 1977 Leoti went 8-2, won league and advanced to state the playoffs for the first year in the HPL. 1979 was also the senior year for Steve Tasker who went on to play at Northwestern in the Big Ten and had an excellent career with the Houston Oilers and the Buffalo Bills.

In 1982 Leoti went 8-2 and won the league, they were unscored upon in league play, and won District, Bi-District, and advanced to Regional for the first time in school history where they lost to Smith Center, the team that went on to win stated. This team still holds many of the defensive records for Leoti.

In 1988 and 1989 WCHS was placing 7-2 placing 2nd in the HPL in 1988 and wining league in 1989. In 1990 WCHS was 11-1, the most wins in school history, there were 1st in league, won District, Bi-District, Regional and the first team to advance to Sub-State where they lost to Chase County. from 1973-1992 Leoti teams were a combined 116-69 easily the best 20 year stretch in their history. Last winning season was in 1994.