MORAN — It all came down to one play.
Marmaton Valley High’s Wildcats dug in with their backs to their own end zone. Udall High’s Eagles had just scored a touchdown with 20.5 seconds left in the game.
The Wildcats still led but just by a single point — 46-45. The Eagles were going for the win not the tie. It was a two-point conversion play.
“We were going to stop them. That’s it,” said Cole Becker, who scored three touchdowns and made 10 tackles on defense for the Wildcats.
Udall took a timeout just before the point-after-try.
“We’d watched enough film to know they’d probably use the halfback pass. The (Colton) Witte kid is a good running back and he was 5-for-5 last week against Sedan with four touchdowns,” said Kent Houk, MVHS head coach. “And that’s the play they threw at us.”
The Wildcats had prepared for the play. The defensive linemen had enough push up the field to force a hurried throw from Udall senior running back Colton Witte. The Wildcats had all the receivers covered.
The pass for the two-point conversion and a lead sailed high and away for the Eagles.
All the Wildcats had to do in the final 20 seconds Tuesday night at home — recover the upcoming onside kick attempt by Udall, and take one offensive snap. Done and done.
Marmaton Valley claimed a Kansas Eight-Man Division I Bi-District championship by the score of 46-45. The Wildcats advance to a regional contest at 1 p.m. Saturday at Downs.
Lakeside High at Downs rolled over Lebo 48-20 Tuesday.
In a game with six takeaways — five turnovers by Udall — it was the final miscue that gave the Wildcats life. After a grind-it-out type of first half that had Udall up 18-14 at the break, the third quarter turned into an eight-man football track meet.
In a span of six minutes, both teams had scored two touchdowns making it 32-30. Witte, who rushed for five touchdowns for the Eagles, got his fifth on a 50-yard run at the 5:21 mark of the third quarter.
Udall’s Logan Beard had his first extra-point kick attempt blocked in the first quarter. Beard came on and kicked one through the uprights to put Udall up by nine, 39-30.
No problem. The Wildcats went on an eight-play drive. Becker capped it off with a five-yard touchdown run with 1:57 left in the third quarter. Becker powered in for the two-point conversion and it was 39-38.
During the MVHS drive, Udall’s Deshon Stiner was flagged for a personal foul then an unsportsmanlike penalty. Stiner was ejected from the game.
“Our kids kept their composure during all that and remained focused,” Houk said.
Right after that, the teams traded punts. Marmaton Valley went on a fourth-and-sixth at the Udall 20 but could not make a connection with a pass play. That came with 4:54 remaining.
Witte took over for the Eagles. Witte slipped away for runs of 35 yards and 21 yards. Then he made a second-down run. Marmaton Valley High’s junior Jared Kale “put his hat right on the ball” forcing the fumble. Scooping it up was senior Zack English who returned the football to the Marmaton Valley 30-yard line at the 3:07 mark.
English passed the ball to Becker for a six-yard gain. English plowed over Udall’s Chris Hall for 10 yards. The Wildcats were on the Udall 21-yard line.
“No, it wasn’t like we planned. I threw the ball behind Lucas but he made the adjustment and scored,” English said of the 21-yard pass play to junior Lucas Hamlin.
Hamlin was out to the right of the action all alone when English threw the ball to him. Hamlin ran to the end zone untouched then English powered over the goal line for the two-point conversion.
Marmaton Valley was in the lead for the first time since a 14-12 lead late in the second quarter.
There was 1:27 left on the game clock.
Kale sacked Udall quarterback Michael Propst for a loss of 10 yards as time ticked away. But Propst found Beard twice on pass plays to move the Eagles to the Marmaton Valley 25-yard line with 35.8 seconds remaining.
It was a halfback pass that got the Eagles to the end zone. Propst went up to get a high pass from Witte and came down on top of Marmaton Valley’s Austin Harrison right over the goal line.
The Eagles elected to go for two. The Wildcats made the defensive stand for the stop and the victory.
“We just wanted it more tonight,” English said. “After the first half, we pulled together and got the job done as a time. We kept fighting out there.”
English was 3 of 10 or 46 yards passing plus caught a 25-yard pass. He rushed for for 26 yards.
Becker had 209 yards on 34 carries for the Wildcats, scoring on runs of six, 25 and five yards. He also had three two-point conversion runs and caught a two-point conversion pass.
“We had a hard time getting things to click in the first half,” Becker said. “In the second half, we came out and played as a team.”
Jimmy Frye got the Wildcats on the board first on a 25-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Frye also had a 43-yard dash to the end zone in the second half. He finished with 117 yards on 13 carries.
“Our kids just don’t have any quit in them. In the first half we were pointing fingers at each other. We addressed that and solved it at halftime,” Houk said. “The kids wanted it more than Udall’s and they pulled themselves together and got the job done.”
Nathan Smart led the defensive charge with 11 tackles for the Wildcats. Becker and Daylen Houk each 10 tackles. Houk made a first-quarter interception.
Kale, Hamlin and English each had a fumble recover.
Udall 6-12-21-6—45
MVHS 8-6-24-8—46
MV — Frye 25 yd run (Frye run)
Udall — Satterlee 16 yd pass from Propst (kick blocked)
MV — Becker 6 yd run (run failed)
Udall — Witte 29 yd run (pass failed)
Udall — Humphrey 3 yd pass from Witte (run failed)
Udall — Witte 5 yd run (Humphrey pass from Witte)
MV — Frye 43 yd run (Becker pass from English)
Udall — Witte 40 yd run (run failed)
MV — Becker 25 yd run (Becker run)
Udall — Witte 50 yd run (Beard kick)
MV — Becker 5 yd run (Becker run)
MV — Lucas Hamlin 21 yd pass from English (English run)
Udall — Propst 25 yd pass from Witte (pass failed)
MVHS Udall
First downs 16 14
Rushes-yds 56-351 35-299
Passing yds 71 142
Total Offense 422 441
Passing 4-11-0 8-18-1
Fumbles/lost 2/2 4/3
Punts-avg. 5-24.5 3-48
Penalities-yds 8-67 9-85
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Marmaton Valley-Becker 34-209, Frye 13-117, English 8-26. Udall-Witte 23-264, Messer 5-9, Propst 3-(-8), Beard 2-6.
Passing: Marmaton Valley-English 3-10-46-0, Frye 1-1-25-0. Udall-Propst 6-12-111-1, Witte 2-6-31-0.
Receiving: Marmaton Valley-English 1-25, Hamlin 1-21, Becker 2-35. Udall — Witte 2-71, Satterlee 1-16, Humphrey 2-12, Propst 1-25, Beard 2-29.
Punting: Marmaton Valley-Stewart 5-124 yds (24.5 avg.). Udall — Propst 3-145 yds (48 avg.).
Wildcats capture bi-district title
