MORAN — Something funny happened on the way to the victory column Friday.
Marmaton Valley High, hosting Reno County Homeschool on Homecoming Night had blasted out of the gates, and threatened to run the visiting Sabres off the field.
Homecoming King Brayden Lawson’s 4-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter put the Wildcats ahead 38-8.
But what followed was a remarkable sequence of dizzying twists and turns, enough to make Simone Biles blush.
By the time Reno County’s Bo Smith lofted a perfectly executed screen pass to Brecken Guthrie, resulting in a 25-yard touchdown pass with 33 seconds remaining, it had given Reno County an 84-78 lead.
The Wildcats weren’t gonna go down without a fight. Lawson found Todd Stevenson for a 22-yard pass, pushing the Wildcats to midfield with 6 seconds remaining. He had one more completion in his arsenal, a pass down the left sideline to Tyler Lord, who was about to be tackled at the Reno County 30. But as the defenders converged, he deftly pitched the ball back to teammate Cooper Scharff, who streaked down the left sideline with his eyes on the end zone.
But it was none other than Smith, playing safety, who collided with Scharff and both fell out of bounds at the Sabres’ 10-yard-line with :00 showing on the clock.
The loss was Marmaton Valley’s first of the season, while Reno County improves to 4-0. If there’s any salve in the Wildcats’ wounds, it’s that the showdown had no bearing on the team’s district record.
WE’LL let historians compare Friday’s score-fest to Marmaton Valley’s epic 106-98 victory over Oswego on the same MVHS field four years ago.
What can’t be argued is the offensive firepower both teams displayed. Rumor has it, the scoreboard operator had to be treated for exhaustion after the final gun sounded.
Unofficially, Smith hit 37 of 61 pass attempts, covering 558 yards, for 8 touchdowns, while rushing for 154 yards as well.
Marmaton Valley wasn’t exactly lacking in the stat sheet. Lawson threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns, while he and Scharff rushed for 143 and 145 yards, respectively, as the Wildcats racked up more than 500 yards of total offense. Scharff also had 81 yards receiving, Stevenson had 63 and Jaedon Granere 62.
MARMATON Valley took advantage of Reno County’s go-for-broke strategy in the early going, in which the Sabres refused to punt, even on fourth deep in their territory, and attempted on-side kicks from the outset.
Scharff rattled off touchdown runs of 30 and 5 yards, before Granere reversed course and wound up with a 17-yard touchdown run to push the Wildcats ahead 22-0.
Smith found Guthrie on a 56-yard pass to get the Sabres on the scoreboard, but Lawson responded with touchdown runs of 1 and 4 yards to make it 38-8.
