Holcomb’s football season ends at Cheney

Courtesy of Kirk Hutchinson
Cheney, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The Holcomb Longhorns fell to the unbeaten and top-ranked Cheney Cardinals, 37 – 8, Friday night in the second round of the 3A state playoffs.

“We knew that tonight was going to be a battle,” Head Coach Trey Teeter said after the game. “They’re the number one team for a reason. They’re a heck of a football team. Kudos to them, I thought they played extremely hard and in the first half we went toe-to-toe with the number one team in the state.”

Defense ruled the 1st half, with neither team scoring an offensive touchdown. After trading punts to open the game, the Cardinals got the first big play, as Cheney’s senior standout Jackson Voth returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown to give Cheney a 7 – 0 lead in the 1st quarter.

On their next possession, the Longhorns were forced to punt for a third time, but Voth muffed the punt this time and Ethan Kennis recovered for Holcomb.

The Longhorns drove to the Cardinal 1, but could not punch it in on two straight plays and turned the ball over on downs.

“We’ve been able to punch those in all year long and that was a time when we definitely needed to do that,” Teeter noted.

Holcomb’s defense stepped up and forced Cheney to punt two straight times. Each time, the Longhorns got the ball in Cardinal territory, but couldn’t capitalize, getting as far as the Cheney 30 on one possession and the 20 on another, but turning the ball over on downs each time.

For the 1st half, the Longhorns held the Cardinals to just 55 yards total offense.

“I’m really proud of our defense,” Teeter said.

Holcomb trailed just 7 – 0 at halftime, but the missed opportunities would come back to haunt the Longhorns.

Cheney got its offense rolling in the 2nd half, opening with a 3-play, 62-yard drive, capped by a 43-yard touchdown pass from Josh Burdick to Gavin Maas. Then, after a Holcomb punt, the Cardinals drove 82 yards in 8 plays, capped by a 1-yard TD pass from Burdick to Colter McDaniel.

Three plays later, McDaniel picked off a Keegan Johnson pass, setting the Cardinals up at the Longhorn 43. The defense stiffened forcing a Weston Hill field goal from 25 yards out. Cheney led 24-0, headed to the 4th quarter.

Holcomb pulled out a couple of trick plays on the next series, including a 37-yard halfback pass from Korbin Johnson to Brayden Bastin. Keegan Johnson finished the drive with a 1-yard TD toss to Angus Smith. The Longhorns completed the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 24 – 8, with 9:04 left in the game.

But Cheney recovered an onside kick at midfield and scored again six plays later, with McDaniel catching a 25-yard TD pass from Burdick.

Then McDaniel picked off Johnson again, setting the Cardinals up at midfield. Four plays later, Voth raced into the end zone from 24 yards out and the scoring was complete.

Coach Teeter had high praise for his team after the game. “I’m really proud of our kids. I’m really proud of our seniors. They’ve been challenged for four years, played in 35 games and they’ve won 28 of them. I thought we played extremely hard tonight.”

Damon Mesa led the Longhorn attack with 145 yards rushing. Holcomb put up 215 total yards against Cheney’s defense. The Cardinals had 312 yards total offense, with 214 yards coming through the air.

The Longhorns finish the season at 7 – 3.