Week 1 Cram Session: Louisburg at Tonganoxie
Tonganoxie at Louisburg, Sept. 10, 2021
Tonganoxie has gone the deepest in the playoffs the program has ever progressed the past two seasons, but THS will have some shoes to fill in key positions after another senior class graduated. The Chieftains, though,
Records: Tonganoxie 0-0 overall and 0-0 in Frontier League play; Louisburg 0-0 and 0-0.
Last year: Tonganoxie opened the season 0-2 after losing by a point in overtime to Louisburg and then by just four to Spring Hill in Week 2, but THS lost just once more in the regular season and then kept winning in the postseason before coming one game away from competing for a state championship. The Chieftains lost to Bishop Miege in the substate round. Louisburg was 7-0 on the season before dropping a Frontier League game to Spring Hill, 14-13, and then losing to Bishop Miege, 21-14, in the Week 9 playoff game. LHS finished the season as league co-champions.
Last meeting: Louisburg won, 21-20, last year in overtime at Louisburg in the season opener for both schools.
Series record: Tonganoxie is 3-6 vs. Louisburg. THS defeated Louisburg, 22-6, in 1989 and then Louisburg won the rematch, 20-8, in 1990. The teams renewed the series in 2018 when Tonganoxie joined the Frontier League.
Coaches: Louisburg’s Drew Harding is in his fourth year as Louisburg head coach and ninth year overall at LHS after serving as an assistant coach. He is 24-5 in two seasons and has two Frontier League titles to his credit. Harding also served as defensive coordinator during his tenure as an assistant. Harding also is an Louisburg graduate. Tonganoxie’s Preston Troyer is in his fourth year at Tonganoxie as head coach, but it’s his 13th overall at THS after serving a decade as an assistant under his father, Al Troyer. Preston is 21-12 as head coach in three seasons. Tonganoxie went 63-37 during Preston’s time as an assistant.
Trends: Tonganoxie alternates home and road contests the first four games. The only non conference game this year is Oct. 10 against Basehor-Linwood.
Two-minute drill: Tonganoxie hasn’t defeated Louisburg since 2020, when THS won, 24-14. Though Louisburg has a four-game winning streak in the series, two of the games have been decided by one point, another was by a touchdown. In addition, two of those games have ended in overtime.
— Local high school football historian Jeff Hughes contributed to this story.