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Area football roundup
ATWOOD, Kan. -- Decatur Community High School used a bit of trickery to claim a 20-16 win over Rawlins County in Northwest Kansas prep football action Friday night.
The Oberlin, Kan., squad scored on a double reverse late in the fourth quarter for the deciding points. Quarterback Wiley Farr handed to running back Keithen Fortin, who ran to the left side, then pitched the ball to wingback Tory Peters. Peters sprinted around right end and dove for the pylon at the goal line. Officials ruled Peters broke the end zone for the touchdown.
Decatur fooled Rawlins County from the onset. Buffaloes head coach Scott Nolan said his team was expecting Decatur to throw from multiple formations. Instead, the Red Devils came out running.
"They came out in a two-back set, and all we'd seen them in was one back and no backs," Nolan said. "They came out and decided they were going to run the ball. They have averaged over 240 yards passing per game. That surprised us, them coming out and running all the cross bucks and different stuff."
Decatur had several big runs from a double-wing formation, with wingback Keithen Fortin doing most of the damage. Fortin ran for 141 yards on just 9 carries. His 68-yard run set up Farr's scoring run late in the third quarter that gave the Devils a 14-8 lead. Fortin ran 50 yards on the same play to help set up Decatur's double-reverse touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Decatur head coach D.J. Johnson said his team has found a running game, and it worked well against Rawlins County.
"We were able to get some traps and counters and things with that," Johnson said. "Last year we ran mostly the same offense, but we were mainly passing out of it. Now that we have a running attack, I think we'll be able to catch some more teams with that. That paid off for us, there were some big plays for us."
Both teams missed golden scoring opportunities.
Decatur drove to the Rawlins 3-yard line in the first quarter. But the host Buffaloes recovered a Red Devil fumble to end the threat. Rawlins fumbled at the Decatur 18 in the second quarter, and Kaden McFee recovered for the Devils.
Rawlins drove deep in Decatur territory in the third quarter after Decatur's success on-side kick to start the half and a touchdown drive to tie the game at 8-8. The Devils recovered the loose ball at their 26. On the next play, Fortin rambled 68 yards to set up Decatur's second score of the night.
Rawlins also had several key penalties to nullify big plays.
"We felt pretty good about our game plan," Coach Nolan said. "We just didn't execute well on offense, and we turned the ball over. It was just a poor execution performance. It wasn't because we didn't play hard, because we did.
"We had great effort, we had young men that played hard. They know that is expected, they have to play hard. For whatever reasons we just didn't execute offensively and defensively."
Decatur's head coach said his team overcame their miscues.
"Our guys stayed focused, and we ended up making more big plays than they did," Johnson said.
Decaatur rushed for 251 yards on 44 carries. The Devils had just 47 yards passing. Rawlins ran for 161 yards on 44 tries, led by Jayce Cook with 66 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Kevin Wolters completed 8 of 16 passes for 117 yards.
Decatur improved to 3-1, while Rawlins County slipped to 1-3. The loss spoiled several celebrations for the Buffaloes, including Homecoming and pre-game festivities honoring long-time coach Dan Lankas.
Lankas was a former player and coach for the Atwood team and an All-Big 8 Conference performer at linebacker for Kansas State University in the 1960s. The Rawlins County stadium was named Dan Lankas Field during pre-game ceremonies Friday.
Scoring by quarters
Decatur Community 0 0 14 6 -- 20
Rawlins County 8 0 0 8 -- 14
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HAYES CENTER -- The Hayes Center High School Cardinals bounced back from last week's loss to Arapahoe by thoroughly dominating Wallace 70-14 Friday.
Keifer Messersmith scored four touchdowns on the ground to go with his 154 yards on only 6 carries. He also threw a touchdown pass to Brady Rosno and converted 8 of 9 point-after kicks.
Rosno had 2 more touchdowns on the night, bookends to his 46-yard catch from Messersmith -- his first score was a 38-yarder from Tyler Clifford at the end of the first quarter, his last was a 57-yard interception return early in the fourth.
Clifford also had an 8-yard run for a score. He also led the Cardinals' defensive effort with 27 tackles.
Adam Lawson opened the night for the Cardinals when he returned a Wallace fumble 10 yards for a touchdown; Casey Wickizer ended Hayes Center's scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run of his own.
Hayes Center finished the night with 381 yards of total offense.
Cardinals head coach Scott Jorgensen said, "I thought we played very well against an athletic Wallace team." He added that he thought the team's execution was "very sharp" in all phases of the game.
He continued, "We are starting district play off on the right foot and we need to continue building on this momentum."
Hayes Center, now 3-1, will face off against Creek Valley at home Friday.
Scoring by quarters
Wallace 6 0 0 8 -- 14
at Hayes Center 21 21 13 15 -- 70
BENKELMAN -- Southwest High School's Justin Malleck scored 2 touchdowns on the ground and caught a pass for another to lead the Roughriders to a 33-0 road win over the Dundy County-Stratton Tigers on Friday.
The win broke Southwest's two-game losing streak in which the Roughriders had been outscored 57-0; conversely, the loss ended a same-length winning streak for the Tigers.
Malleck rolled up 193 yards rushing on only 13 carries, while catching 3 balls for another 106. Southwest ended the night with 383 yards of total offense.
Thomas Sughroue -- who had 13 carries for 46 yards -- and Justin Brooks, who went 6-for-10 in passing with 143 yards, also contributed touchdowns to Southwest's effort.
The Roughriders (2-2) return to action Friday at home against Kearney Catholic, while Dundy County-Stratton (2-2) will take to the road to battle Elm Creek.
Scoring by quarters
Southwest 6 21 6 0 -- 33
at Dundy County-Stratton 0 0 0 0 -- 0
TRENTON -- Hitchcock County High School's football team, back on their home turf Friday after two straight weeks on the road, lost to Arnold 72-50.
The Falcons were playing catch-up throughout the game, as they fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter. They were down by as much as 38 at the end of third, but continued fighting until the final gun, putting 36 points on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter alone.
Clive Brown scored 3 touchdowns on the ground, including a 65-yard scamper in the second quarter. He also threw a 23-yard scoring pass to Alex Pollmann and brought a kickoff back 65 yards for another touchdown.
Cale Brown, Clive's brother, had a matching 65-yard kick return for a score of his own, while Devin Watkins also crossed the goal line from 25 yards out.
The loss drops Hitchcock County to 2-2 on the season.
The Falcons will travel to Arthur County Friday.
Scoring by quarters
Arnold 13 19 20 20 -- 72
at Hitchcock County 0 14 0 36 -- 50
EUSTIS -- The Knights of Eustis-Farnam High School spotted visiting Medicine Valley a 6-point first quarter lead, then scored 26 straight of the own, ultimately downing the Raiders 26-14 Friday.
Drew Wetovick of Eustis-Farnam ran for 3 touchdowns and had 65 yards on 19 carries, plus caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Djorn Dunlap, while going 5-for-11 through the air for another 77. He also had one pass picked off by the Raiders.
Medicine Valley's Trey Hildebrandt caught two touchdown passes from Raiders quarterback Trevor Wells in the loss, including a 42-yarder in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders put up 269 of total offense to Eustis-Farnam's 272.
Knights head coach Brad Dunlap said, "As expected, it was a hard-fought game with Medicine Valley. Both teams played physical football all night long."
Medicine Valley (1-3) will play host to Maxwell Friday, while Eustis-Farnam, now 3-1 on the season, will travel to Callaway.
Scoring by quarters
Medicine Valley 6 0 0 8 -- 14
at Eustis-Farnam 0 14 6 6 -- 26
KEARNEY -- Cambridge High School's Delvin Jackson scored 4 touchdowns in the first three quarters, leading the Trojans to a 31-6 win against Kearney Catholic Friday.
The Cambridge running attack continued to dominate, rolling up 287 yards against the host defense, while the Trojans defense held a third consecutive team to 7 points or less.
Jackson rushed 15 times on the night, racking up 97 yards. Cambridge's top rusher, however, was Gus Petersen, who broke the century mark on the ground with 103 yards on 20 carries.
Quarterback Hayden Eckberg also had a touchdown run to go along with his 49 yards on 16 carries.
Cambridge (3-1) will host North Platte St. Pat's Friday.
Scoring by quarters
Cambridge 6 6 13 6 -- 31
at Kearney Catholic 0 0 0 6 -- 6
ARAPAHOE -- The Warriors of Arapahoe High School battled hard, but could not get around Overton, losing 14-0 to their visitor Friday.
Overton's Jared Shafer scored on 1-yard touchdown runs in the first and second quarters, providing the only points his team would need.
Arapahoe's Dustin Park led the Warriors with 120 yards on 26 carries in the loss.
The Warriors (2-2) will try to get back on the winning track when they travel to Wilcox-Hildreth Friday.
Scoring by quarters
Overton 7 7 0 0 -- 14
at Arapahoe 0 0 0 0 -- 0