DERBY – Patience and persistence have served Hays senior Zane Viegra well throughout his football career.
 
First waiting his turn to be a varsity starter at quarterback, then seeing that quest challenged by an injury he sustained in a relief appearance in last year’s Class 5A playoffs only strengthened Viegra’s fortitude.
 
So maybe it seemed fitting Friday in the Indians’ season opener at perennial 6A power Derby that with the clock ticking on Hays’ chances to grab a signature victory, Viegra was ready for the moment.
 
Trailing by a touchdown with 3:30 to play, Viegra engineered a 16-play, 96-yard drive, hitting junior Braxton Basgall on a 4-yard pass in the corner of the end zone with five seconds remaining. The Indians then opted to go for the victory at that point, and Viegra connected with senior Parker McGuire on a two-point conversion pass that lifted Hays to a 22-21 win at Panther Stadium.
 
Hays players spilled on to the field after junior Tanner Geist pulled down Derby quarterback Krystian Dorsey on the game’s final play, securing the victory for the Indians, No. 4 in KSHSAA Covered’s 5A rankings. It also marked the second consecutive home loss for 6A No. 2 Derby, which fell to Manhattan as the host team in last year’s state semifinals.
 

“It was amazing,” said Viegra, who moved into the starting role after Carter Graham’s graduation, and after rehabbing from a broken tibia he sustained in Hays’ 5A semifinal playoff victory over Eisenhower last season. “I’m extremely blessed. It’s been a journey.
 
“I just trusted God throughout the whole thing. My teammates helped me along the way, and I’ve grinded every day.”
 
The Indians, coming off a 5A runner-up finish last season and embarking on a three-game, non-league stretch that includes 6A heavyweight Manhattan along with this week’s home opener against reigning Oklahoma 6A-II champion Choctaw, were in grind mode on Friday. Playing in a steady rain that soaked competitors and spectators throughout pregame and for 2½ quarters, Hays committed four turnovers, including a pair of interceptions by Viegra.
 
The Indians faced a 21-7 deficit early in the third quarter.
 
“We went through a lot of adversity,” Basgall said. “It definitely was tough, but I knew we had it in us.
 
“These are some hard-fighting dudes here.”
 
Hays, which won four November road games last season en route to the state championship game, got off to a good start. The Indians took the opening drive 77 yards into the end zone, with senior running back Holden Lind covering the final 27 for the first of his two touchdown runs.
 
“We knew these guys were legit, but we just came in and did our thing,” Lind said. “It kind of felt like a playoff game, I’m not going to lie. It just felt like one of those games.”
 

And for much of it, it felt like Hays would be hard-pressed to win. Derby, which ran just seven plays in the first quarter, tied the score on the first play of the second. Dorsey rolled out and connected with junior Michael Castillo, who briefly bobbled the ball but harnessed it and ran it in for a 53-yard touchdown.
 
The Panthers got a pivotal stop later in the quarter when Viegra mishandled a snap on fourth-and-1 from the Hays 16, giving Derby the ball. Four plays later, Dorsey barreled toward the end zone on second-and-goal from the 4. He was hit and fumbled near the goal line, but junior running back Davon Morrison covered it in the end zone with 3:26 remaining in the half. Tripp Holtzinger’s extra point gave the Panthers a 14-7 lead.
 
Hays failed to take advantage of a Derby miscue shortly before halftime. The Indians got the ball in Panther territory when a punt hit a Derby player and Hays junior Alex Loving recovered it. The Indians drove to Derby’s 10, but Viegra was intercepted by Panther linebacker Mason Moaliitele one second before halftime.
 
Derby pushed its lead to 21-7 on the opening possession of the second half. A false start and a tripping penalty pushed the Panthers back to second-and-30. But junior Arieus Finley ran for 29 yards on the ensuing play, then Dorsey hit a wide-open Rowan Foster behind the Hays secondary for his second touchdown pass.
 
“He looks dynamic sometimes, and then there’s other times we’re just not getting the correct reads and stuff,” Derby coach Brandon Clark said of Dorsey, who went 5-of-9 passing for 102 yards and ran for 93 yards on 14 carries in his first varsity start. “There were times he wasn’t getting much time when we passed and then it was raining that whole first half and he was dealing with that.”
 
With their backs against the wall, the Indians responded. Hays countered with a 65-yard touchdown drive, with Lind scoring on a 26-yard run to cut Derby’s lead to 21-14.
 
Then the Indians defense seized the spotlight, keeping Derby backed up and giving the Hays offense good field position on multiple occasions. Still, the Indians struggled to take advantage, turning it over on an errant snap with 7:10 remaining in the game.
 

But the momentum swings didn’t stop. Hays got the ball back on the next play when senior Johnny Rigler recovered a Dorsey fumble. The Indians quickly moved to the Derby 6 on a 32-yard pass from Viegra to Brogan Albers, but back-to-back errant snaps pushed Hays back to the 25. On fourth down, Derby’s Braylon Reed intercepted Viegra in the end zone and returned it to midfield.
 
Instead of shutting the door on Hays’ chances, however, the Indians forced the Panthers to punt, getting the ball at their own 4 with 3:30 to play.
 
“Our defense was just incredible,” Hays coach Tony Crough said. “It’s hard to come up with the words for it. We kept stalling out a little bit on offense. We talked about all week how you have to put up with Derby’s runs and find a way to kill their momentum.
 
“We found a way to kind of slow it down by doing some things with timeouts and different things. Our defense just coming up big. Big plays all over the place by those guys on the defensive side.”
 
Viegra completed 6 of 9 passes on the winning drive, including a 7-yard pass to McGuire on fourth-and-5 to keep the march alive. Lind added seven carries for 44 yards, including a 10-yard run on third-and-5 that moved the ball to the Derby 5.
 
Two plays later, the Indians slipped Basgall into the right side of the end zone, where Viegra found him. Basgall caught the ball and landed on both feet for the touchdown right before he hopped out of bounds.
 
“I couldn’t ask for a better quarterback,” Basgall said. “We’ve had that chemistry and we took it out on the field and got it done.”
 
There was still one more play for Hays to make to get the winning points, and the Indians got it done. McGuire caught the two-point conversion pass in nearly the same spot as Basgall. He landed awkwardly on his left leg and was injured, but the senior tight end rolled on to his back with the ball secured in his right arm.
 
“We’ve always talked about before that if we get in a big game on the road, and we have a chance to win it, we’re going for two,” Crough said.
 
It was a magical moment for Viegra, who spent nearly six months healing from his leg injury before beginning to prepare for the season in earnest. His struggles earlier in the game gave way to a successful ending, a microcosm of his rehab journey.
 
“I’m beyond blessed to be out here and I’m just trying to make the most I can out of this one year I have left,” Viegra said. “I’m excited how this has started.”
 

HAYS 22, DERBY 21
 
Hays … 7 … 0 … 7 … 8 … – … 22

Derby … 0 … 14 … 7 … 0 … – … 21
 
Hays – Holden Lind 27-yard run (Carson Moore kick)
 
Derby – Michael Castillo 53-yard pass from Krystian Dorsey (Tripp Holtzinger kick)
 
Derby – Davon Morrison recovery in end zone (Holtzinger kick)
 
Derby – Rowan Foster 33-yard pass from Dorsey (Holtzinger kick)
 
Hays – Lind 26-yard run (Moore kick)
 
Hays – Braxton Basgall 4-yard pass from Zane Viegra (Parker McGuire pass from Viegra)