Salina Central wins Kansas 5A football state championship. More on Friday’s winners

Here’s a look at Friday’s high school football action from both the Kansas and Missouri state tournaments...

Salina Central 51, Basehor-Linwood 34

For a half, Basehor-Linwood felt pretty good at the Kansas Class 5A state title game against Salina Central.

Then the second-half kickoff came and went.

After holding a 14-10 halftime lead and receiving the ball, a muff and fumble by the Bobcats on a pooch kickoff set up a Salina Central touchdown that flipped the lead. Three more turnovers followed and resulted in the Mustangs taking full control for a 51-34 win on Friday afternoon at Emporia State.

Salina Central (12-1) won its first state championship since 2005.

Senior running back Cooper Reves led the second-half surge with 205 rushing yards and four touchdowns after intermission. For the game, Reves finished with 250 rushing yards plus 63 receiving yards.

“It didn’t seem like a big game in the first half, but we kept doing the little things right and it turned into a big game,” said Reves of his offensive outburst. “Everyone had the same goal in mind and feels good to accomplish that.”

Quarterback Griffin Hall added 137 passing yards and two touchdowns, while running for 69 yards and one score.

Basehor-Linwood (12-1) showed life late, on a 58-yard touchdown strike from senior quarterback Carson Dixon to fellow senior receiver Nash Morrison to pull to 37-21 with 8:01 left.

The Bobcats then recovered an onside kick with 7:59 remaining. Facing fourth-and-16 at midfield, Dixon found Teahan Bradley along the right sideline for a first down. Then Dixon lobbed a 25-yard pass to Morrison in the left corner of the end zone, but the two-point conversion run was short, leaving the deficit at 37-27.

Morrison finished with 125 receiving yards and two scores.

Salina Central answered with a 37-yard run by Reves through tacklers to the BLHS 11, followed by another tough Reves run off the right tackle through a crowd and into the end zone to push the lead to 44-27.

The Bobcats again struck back, when Dixon heaved a 66-yard bomb for Deagen Trowbridge for a 44-34 margin with 4:51 left. But Salina Central recovered the onside kick, then Reves ripped off another 24-yard run to help set up a 4-yard score by the senior.

Basehor-Linwood held a 14-10 lead after Gavin Mitchell scored from a yard out for a 7-7 tie, then Dixon connected on his first touchdown strike for 23 yards to Roman Miller with 3:34 left in the half.

Dixon finished with 319 passing yards and four touchdowns.

The game marked Basehor-Linwood’s first appearance in the state title game.

Platte County 64, Kirkwood 35

Defense supposedly travels well on the road in football.

Platte County showed offense does, too.

The Pirates (13-0) extended their win streak to 27 games, and stand one win away from back-to-back Missouri Class 5 state titles after a 64-35 win at Kirkwood on Saturday afternoon.

Adam Gisler led Platte County with five rushing touchdowns, while quarterback Rocco Marriott added four touchdowns, including three passing scores to fellow senior wideout Braiden Stevens.

Kirkwood (11-2) pulled within 21-14 midway through the second quarter, but Platte County scored after a long pass to Stevens to set up a Gisler touchdown run for a 28-14 lead with 3:33 left in the half.

Then after a Kirkwood interception, the Pioneers endured a bad snap to give PCHS a safety with 1:33 in the second. Platte County followed with a three-and-out and punted to the KHS 1. On the following play, Kirkwood fumbled at its own 1, and Marriott took a keeper into the end zone. Suddenly, the Pirates held a 36-14 halftime lead and didn’t look back.

Platte County will play for its second straight state championship next Friday at 7 p.m. at Missouri Western in St. Joseph.

Other high school football scores:

Kansas Class 3A championship: Andale 38, Topeka Hayden 6

Missouri Class 2 semifinal: St. Pius X (Festus) 40, Monroe City 36

This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 11:57 PM.