GREAT BEND – After delivering what looked like an earlier knockout blow against Hays in Friday’s 5A quarterfinal, Great Bend was forced to fend off one last push from its rival in the closing moments. 

Trailing by seven, Hays drove inside the 5-yard line but Great Bend’s Koehn Ribody broke up a 4th-and-goal pass with 30 seconds left to deny Hays’ comeback attempt and seal a 29-22 win for the Panthers. 

“You just knew they were going to try to put the ball in a playmaker's hands and give him an opportunity to have the two-way go, whether he could run it or throw it,” Great Bend coach Erin Beck said of the Indians’ final play. “Our kids just did a great job of staying home. We sent (Jacob Hall) off the edge to give a little extra pressure. 

“The defense bowed up when you needed it. We had some uncharacteristic mistakes that had you holding your breath a little bit. You just knew that Hays, if they were going to score that thing, they were going to go for two and the win. So just very proud of the way our kids just played winning football down the stretch.”

Great Bend (11-0) will play host to Salina Central (10-1) in Friday’s semifinal. 

Up nine, Great Bend looked to have a firm grasp on the game after coming up with a goal-line stand midway through the fourth quarter. 

But Panther star Ian Premer mishandled a shotgun snap and the Indians pounced on it, setting up a 1-yard TD run plunge from Braxton Basgall. The successful two-point try cut Great Bend’s lead to 23-22 with 5:35 left. 

However, the Panthers answered immediately when Daxton Minton hit Cooper Ohnmacht for a 51-yard touchdown pass with 4 minutes remaining. 

“We saw in the first half that they were overplaying Ian a little bit, so we got in trips and ran Ian on a little speed out, and it left Cooper one on one, “ Beck said. “He just won that matchup, and Daxton made a great throw to him.”

Hays blocked the extra point after Ohnmacht’s touchdown to keep it a 7-point game.

The Indians, aided by a Great Bend personal foul, set up a first-and-goal at the 8. The Panthers stuffed a running play on third down to set up the decisive play on the incomplete pass. 

“We knew we were going to have to (dig deep), and that's what we did,” linebacker Trenton Kern. “We knew they had something up their sleeve and they had a heavy package. We stopped their heavy packages, and we won the game. 

“That's just football. I mean, we're going to get hit in the mouth, but we're gonna hit back harder. And that's what we did all game long.”

Hays High coach Tony Crough commended his Indians for their grit late and credited Great Bend’s defense for coming up with the clutch stop.

“It was right there for the taking,” Crough told Dustin Armbruster of Hays Post. “We were right there against a great, great football team. That was a championship level football game.”

The teams traded a pair of touchdowns in the first half. Great Bend struck first on a 31-yard TD from Premer. Hays knotted it up on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Zane Viegra to Jarek Purdy. 

The Panthers regained the lead after Minton found Ohnmacht on a fourth-and-goal from a 3-yard TD with 52 seconds left. But Hays answered before halftime after Holden Lind broke loose for a 40-yard run to set up his 9-yard TD pass from Viegra. The ensuing PAT locked it at 14 heading into the break. 

“It was tough,” Beck said. “ You have to rally the troops a little bit and make sure they understand that there's a whole nother half of football left because that was a huge momentum swing that they stole after scoring right before half.”

“But just the way our kids kept their composure at halftime and you could kind of feel it coming out that they were going to be alright.”

Kern helped the Panthers snatch back momentum. Backed up in their own territory, the Indians initially got a punt off, but a penalty forced them to re-punt. On the second attempt, Kern blocked the kick out of the end zone for a safety to give the Panthers a 16-14 lead. 

“I saw that he was punting towards our sideline to get it out of bounds, to get away from our returners,” Kern said. “I almost had it the first time, so I knew it was coming back. 

“I just got around to him and dove and got lucky. Got smoked in the face (with the ball).”

On the ensuing possession, Premer caught a 21-touchdown pass with a defender draped all over him to help the Panthers take a 9-point lead. 

Premer caught six passes for 81 yards and had 59 rushing yards on 11 attempts. Ohnmacht finished with seven receptions for 71 yards while Minton threw for 155 yards and three touchdowns. 

“It was an unbelievable game,” Beck said. “I mean, tip your cap to Hays. That was a great game plan. They did some good things. It was a battle between two really good football teams.”

Hays finished 8-3 with two losses to Great Bend and the other coming against Class 6A power Manhattan. 

Lind ran for 204 yards in his last game as an Indian, leaving with a school-record 3,866 career rushing yards. 

CLASS 1A 

SMITH CENTER 22, MOUNDRIDGE 14 – Smith Center initiated a 97-yard game-winning touchdown drive to outlast Moundridge and keep its bid for a perfect season alive. 

The score was locked at 14 before the Redmen capped off the 10-play drive with an 8-yard run from Parker Hutchinson and added the two-point conversion to go up eight with just under two minutes left. 

Moundridge drove inside the red zone on its final possession but Smith Center forced an incomplete pass on the final play to seal it. 

The Redmen had a pair of 100-yard rushers in Hutchinson and Brant Wilson. Hutchinson ran for two scores while Wilson had the other TD. 

Smith Center will travel to Sterling for Friday’s semifinal in a battle of 11-0 teams.

LINCOLN 46, ELL-SALINE 44 – Jeremiah Miller had a hand in seven touchdowns as Lincoln outlasted Ell-Saline to continue its dream season.

Ell-Saline took a 36-32 lead after Reese Krone returned an interception for a touchdown. But Lincoln answered with a touchdown pass from Miller to Ben Bell to regain the lead and the Leopards then came up with a huge defensive stop. 

Miller then pushed the lead to 10 points on an 18-yard run with 4:14 left. The Cardinals scored with under a minute left but an unsuccessful onside kick ended it. 

Miller ran for 100 yards and four touchdowns and threw for nearly 300 yards with three TDs. 

The Leopards had a pair of 100-yard receivers in Ben Bell and Xavier Miller. Bell caught two touchdown passes and Miller had one. 

Lincoln (10-1) will play host to Sylvan-Lucas (10-1) in Friday’s semifinal. Lincoln won the regular-season matchup against the Mustangs, 62-36.

SYLVAN-LUCAS 50, LITTLE RIVER 44 – Zayne Maupin accounted for six touchdowns to help Sylvan-Lucas pull out a shootout at Little River. 

Maupin rushed for three touchdowns, caught two TD passes and also threw a TD pass to send the Mustangs into the semifinals. 

Little River rallied from an 18-point deficit to cut the lead to 50-44 early in the fourth quarter but Sylvan-Lucas came up with a late defensive stand before running out the clock. 

Maupin finished with 227 yards rushing. Mustang quarterback Carter Johnson threw for three touchdowns. 

Sylvan-Lucas (10-1) will travel to Lincoln (10-1) for Friday’s semifinal.

HILL CITY 58, WAKEENEY-TREGO 36 – Hill City avenged a season-opening loss to rival WaKeeney-Trego and won its 10th straight game to reach the semifinals. 

Hill City quarterback Tate Balthazor ran for five touchdowns, finishing with 143 yards on 17 carries. 

Jaxson Smith recorded three sacks and caused a fumble for the Ringneck defense. Aiden Hall had a fumble recovery for a touchdown and Balthazor picked off two passes. 

Smith also ran for a touchdown and caught a TD from Balathzor. 

Trego’s bid for a perfect season ended after the Golden Eagles won their first 10 games. 

Jack Conness ran for 166 yards and four touchdowns for Trego. 

Hill City will host its semifinal game against South Central at 6 p.m. Friday. SOUTH CENTRAL 36, WICHITA COUNTY 28 – South Central won a tight one for the second straight game to keep its perfect season alive. 

Quarterback Easton Huck turned in a monster game for the Timberwolves, rushing for 226 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries and throwing for three touchdowns. 

Jack Herd keyed South Central’s defensive effort with 18 tackles and a sack. 

Wichita County quarterback Cashton Young ran for 164 yards and three touchdowns. 

South Central (11-0) will travel to Hill City (10-1) for Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal.

EIGHT-PLAYER DIVSION II 

VICTORIA 36, HUTCHINSON CENTRAL CHRISTIAN 22 – Weston Scherrer ran for 262 yards and four touchdowns to propel unbeaten Victoria into the semifinals. 

After Victoria rolled to a 42-point win in last year’s quarterfinal with Central Christian, the Cougars provided much more resistance this time. 

The Knights pulled away midway through the fourth quarter after Scherrer’s 12-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 28-6. 

Victoria will now meet Hodgeman County for the second time this season, hosting the Longhorns in Friday’s semifinal. The Knights won the first matchup, 28-14.

HODGEMAN COUNTY 34, WALLACE COUNTY 28 – Hodgeman County outlasted previous unbeaten Wallace County, working overtime to pull out a six-point win. 

Tyson Younger had three receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown for the Longhorns. Gavin Reece threw for 189 yards and two touchdowns. 

Desmond Thomas led the Hodgeman County defense with 17 tackles, and Talon Shank had an interception. 

The Longhorns (10-1) will travel to Victoria (11-0) for the semifinals, looking to avenge a 28-14 loss in the regular season. 
TESCOTT 52, PEABODY 30 – Tescott rallied from a 16-0 deficit to gain a 32-14 lead at halftime before pulling away in the second half. 

Defensive end Charlie Phelps led the Trojan defense with 13 tackles, with 10 of those going for loss. Phelps also blocked a punt, returned a kick for a touchdown and had four catches for 68 yards and three touchdowns.

Joey Stirn amassed 242 yards rushing on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns.  He completed 4 of 6 passes for 91 yards and three TDs. Stirn also recorded 10 tackles from his linebacker spot. 

Jace Krone and Reid Oetting each had a receiving TD. Miles Challans added 10 tackles and an interception, and Krone also had an interception.

Tescott will travel to Cunningham for Friday’s semifinal.

WESKAN 60, INGALLS 26 – Reigning state champion Weskan used a dominant third quarter to pull away from Ingalls and advance to the semifinals. 

Weskan led 22-12 at halftime before outscoring the Bulldogs 30-8 in the third frame. 

Weskan will play host to Peabody in Friday’s semifinal.