MORAN — Through his illustrious high school career, Marmaton Valley High’s Brayden Lawson has often made the remarkable seem routine.
But even his head coach had to marvel at the show the Wildcat quarterback put on for Senior Night against the Crest Lancers Friday.
With only eight carries on the night, Lawson racked up 146 rushing yards and five touchdowns. He also threw for 157 yards and two more scores, and tacked on 15 tackles on defense, forced two fumbles, had a pair of quarterback sacks and otherwise packed the game of a lifetime into 2½ quarters as Marmaton Valley cruised to a 60-14 victory.
The win did more than just give the Wildcats (6-1) a win against one of their key rivals. It also clinched the Kansas Eight Man-II, District 1 championship, and set the Wildcats up for a second straight Three Rivers League title.
“We knew how important this game was,” Wildcat head coach Max Mickunas said. “Crest is a good team, a well-coached team, but we were ready for the task.”
The crowd barely had time to find its seats when Marmaton Valley landed a pair of haymakers. Lawson got things started with a 49-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage. Then, a bad snap on Crest’s first play from scrimmage rolled into the end zone, where Wildcat defender Dagen Barney was the first one to pounce on it, pushing the lead to 14-0.
The game was 18 seconds old.
“That was definitely not the way we wanted to start,” Crest head coach Nick McAnulty said. “It kind of shocked us.”
Another lost fumble put Marmaton Valley at the Lancer 22. After hitting Tyler Lord on a 21-yard strike, Lawson scored one play later on a 1-yard keeper to make it 20-0.
The Lancers found their footing just a bit, converting a fourth-down conversion, but lost quarterback Drake Weir to injury in the process. The drive stalled there, giving the Wildcats possession at the Crest 29.
Two plays later, Lawson found Lord for a 29-yard touchdown to make it 28-0 by the 2:56 mark of the first quarter.
The Lancers showed signs of life from there.
Kade Nilges, who took over at quarterback with Weir’s exit, threw a 42-yard dart to Henry White, setting the Lancers up at the Wildcat 3. Jensen Barker plowed into the end zone on the next play to get the Lancers on the board.
But the Wildcats’ Cooper Scharff broke free on a long kickoff return to set MV back into scoring position in a hurry. Lawson broke around the left side for a 10-yard score two plays later.
The Lancers responded in kind. Nilges hit Gentry McGhee for a 42-yard bomb to set up a 17-yard touchdown pass to White on the next play to cut the gap to 36-14.
