Turnovers propel Holcomb to sub-state win over Scott City

Holcomb, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–For the fourth time in the series’ history, Scott City and Holcomb battled in the playoffs. The Beavers won the first two convincingly, while the Longhorns ended Scott City’s season early last year in the Regional round. Friday night in front of a standing-room crowd at Holcomb in a battle of GWAC rivals, the Longhorns used their defense to score early on, and 27 unanswered points to stun Scott City 34-13, advancing them to the Class 4A, Division II State Championship game next Saturday in Salina.

It didn’t take long for Holcomb to score. In fact only 15 seconds. On the first offensive play of the game, Peyton Leonard picked off a Parker Gooden pass, and raced it in from 24 yards out with 11:45 remaining in the first quarter to go up 7-0, with the Chance Rodriguez PAT. After both teams traded three-and-outs, Scott City got on the board in the middle of the first quarter. Parker Gooden would pick up the fumble in the center/quarterback exchange, and score from a yard out with 6:53 remaining in the first quarter to pull to within 7-6. The extra point would sail wide right. After the Longhorns fumbled at the Beaver 25 yard line they would score again on the defensive side. Three plays later, it was Reece Morss picking off a pass at the 20, and found his way to paydirt with 4:04 remaining in the first quarter to put Holcomb up 13-6. The extra point kick would be blocked.

In the second quarter, the Longhorns found the end zone two more times, and they came on the offensive end. Trey Gilbert found Chance Rodriguez down the seam on a 39-yard pass play with 7:14 left in the half to go up 20-6 with the Rodriguez PAT. Holcomb wasn’t done scoring. After a Scott City fumble, the Longhorns went eight plays, and 53 yards to go up three scores. At the 2:26 mark before halftime, Kaden Tichenor rushed in from six yards out to go up 27-6, with the Rodriguez extra point.

Holcomb’s final points of the night came on the opening drive of the second half, which proved to be the final dagger. The Longhorns got a Reece Morss one-yard plunge with 8:17 left in the third frame to go up 34-6 with the Rodriguez extra point.

Scott City finally cracked the goal line late in the game. Gooden connected with Marshal Faurot on a six-yard strike on fourth and goal with 2:03 left to pull to within 34-13 on the Moses Hinojos extra point.

For Holcomb, Trey Gilber went 9-14 passing for 150 yards with a touchdown. Chance Rodriguez had four catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. Reece Morss had 12 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown. The Longhorns rushed for 150 yards and and finished with an even 300 yards of offense.

Scott City’s Parker Gooden was 14-32 passing for 200 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Marshal Faurot had nine receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown. Both Gooden’s and Faruot’s yards were career-bests. Wyatt Hayes led the ground attack with 67 yards on 13 carries. The Beavers rushed for 78 yards and ended up with a total of 278 yards of offense.

With the win, Holcomb improves to 2-3 in sub-state games, and are 18-17 all-time in the playoffs, and are now 11-2 under Kent Teeter in the playoffs.

Scott City is just outside the top 10 in Kansas for the most playoff wins after Friday’s game. They are 48-19 in the playoffs, and dropped to 6-5 in the sub- state round, including a 5-2 record on the road in sub-state games. The loss also snapped their seven-game road playoff winning streak since 2012.

Scott City still leads the all-time series 14-4 over Holcomb, despite the Longhorns winning three out of the last four games. Holcomb evened up the series in the playoffs at two wins apiece.

The Beavers finish their season at 11-1. Their 11 wins marked the 12 time in program history winning at least 11 wins in the season. Scott City Coach Jim Turner is 18-4 through two seasons, which is the best start for a coach in the first two season in school history.

Holcomb improved to 11-1 on the season with the win. The Longhorns will go for their second state championship in three years on Saturday, November 25, as they will face the Frontenac Raiders at Salina Stadium in what will be the final year of the Class 4A, Division II classification. The classification lasted four years. Kickoff is set for 1 pm. Frontenac surprised Topeka Hayden 37-21 to improve to 9-3 on the year. Holcomb is 1-0 in state championship games, after their 21-0 win two years ago against Holton, while the Raiders are 1-5 in state championship games all-time, winning the title in 1994 in Class 2-1A, and will be making their first appearance in a title game since 2000, when they lost to Wichita Collegiate in the Class 3A Championship game 42-14. Frontenac has made the playoffs in five different classifications in their 29 playoff appearances all time.