Football Game Preview: Hays Indians vs. Eisenhower Tigers + Official Tickets

The Hays Indians will square off against the Eisenhower Tigers on Thursday. Eisenhower took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Hays, who comes in off a win.

Hays is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. Everything went their way against Liberal on Friday as they made off with a 49-28 win. The Indians pushed the score to 35-12 by the end of the third, a deficit the Redskins cut but never quite recovered from.

Meanwhile, Eisenhower played a tough matchup on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They took a blow against Northwest, falling 56-27. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas football rankings (they are ranked 90th, while the Grizzlies are ranked seventh).

Hays will have to contain Brayden Pappas as he made an impact in Eisenhower's last game. He rushed for 230 yards and three TDs on only 12 carries. Pappas really tore up the turf during one magnificent 80-yard run.

Hays has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 38.2 points over those games. As for Eisenhower, their defeat was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 2-6.

Hays was able to grind out a solid win over Eisenhower when the teams last played back in November of 2024, winning 24-14. Will the Indians repeat their success, or do the Tigers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.