As the high school football season gets underway in Kansas this weekend, three Wichita-based programs are taking very different approaches to the heat. They practice at different times of the day.
Two are only practicing in the morning while the other is practicing at night.
Most high school football programs align with the latter once classes officially begin. That is no longer the case.
Kansas high school football teams are dealing with extreme heat.
It is rare for the dog days of summer to last into early September in the Sunflower State. This year is different. A prolonged stretch of 90º+ temperatures will continue into the official start of the Kansas high school football season this weekend. That is unusual.
As a result of the extreme heat, four City League football kickoffs are being pushed back by 30 minutes. According to the Witchita Eagle, the games between Emporia and Northwest, Garden City and Heights, East at South, and Northwest and Bishop Carroll have been moved from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
While that may not seem like a big deal, it is. The extra half an hour will see a pretty big jump in temperature. The sun will set and the heat will subside by more than a few degrees. It will drop nearly 10 degrees in total between kickoff and conclusion.
You also have to consider everything that happens before kickoff. Giving teams an extra 30 minutes before they take the field for warmups will help with the late-afternoon, early-evening sun. At the very least, it can’t hurt.
The same cannot be said for practice. There is a unique debate across the state that did exist before this season!
Is it better to practice in the morning or at night?
High school football teams all over the country practice in the morning during the preseason. They get up before the sun to be done before it gets too hot. Sometimes they go back on the field for a few hours in the afternoon during two-a-days.
That typically stops in the week leading up to the first game, if not before then. Especially once classes begin.
This year is different.
Andale head coach Dylan Schmidt kept practice in the morning during the third week of the football calendar for the first time in 10 years. His team practices before school. Northwest is doing the same. It has practiced every day at 5:00 a.m.
Maize South head coach Brent Pfeifer is taking a different approach. He moved from early-morning practices to evening practices so his players can be better acclimated to the game conditions.
Andale and Northwest is avoiding the heat. Maize South is embracing the heat. Games are played in heat. You play how you practice.
It will be interesting to see how these three teams fare during the early season. All three programs are successful. They should be legitimate contenders in 2026. Will the change in practice have an impact on the results?
Regardless of what happens, this is the first time ever that Kansas high school football coaches are forced to make this decision.