High School Football: Marmaton Valley 58, Chetopa 12
MORAN Marmaton Valley High Schools three seniors took turns sharing the spotlight Friday evening. Caiden Elliott scored three touchdowns, Isaac Heskett two and Gage Griffith one against visiting Chetopa.
Sprinkle in sophomore William Lowders 141 rushing yards, and you have a recipe for a dominating 58-12, Senior Night win.
The victory in the regular season finale seals a Kansas Eight Man-II playoff berth for Marmaton Valley.
The Wildcats (3-5 overall and 3-2 in district play) finished third in District 1, which sends them on on the road to Centre next Thursday to take on Lost Springs. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.
Weve exchanged films already with them, and Ive been able to break down a couple of games, Wildcat head coach Gavin Cole said. They have a good running attack. They have two kids up front who are pretty darned good, and they have a good backfield. Well have to play well.
A repeat effort from Friday would be nice. Marmaton Valley churned out 318 rushing yards against Chetopa, doing much of the damage by utilizing misdirection and counter plays.
Its something we circled this week, something weve seen on film, Cole said.
Multiple plays involved sending the receivers and backs out wide, then bringing one in motion toward the quarterback, faking a handoff and bringing the ball back in the opposite direction.
Weve had it in our playbook all season, but we really hadnt used it until tonight, Cole said. It will give our opponents next week something else to gameplan for.
The Wildcats took control with long, time-consuming drives in the first half.
A nine-play, 51-yard drive to open the contest ended with Hesketts 5-yard touchdown. Another nine-play drive, covering 75 yards, in the second period ended with Elliotts 13-yard touchdown run.
The third long drive covered 43 yards on you guessed it nine plays, ending when Griffith plunged in from a yard out with 32 seconds left in the half.
Chetopa reached the Wildcat 20 before a muffed snap on the final play of the half prevented the Hornets from trying a pass into the end zone.
Elliott opened the second half with a flourish, stepping in front of a Colten Vanatta pass, then scoring on a 24-yard jaunt on the Wildcats next play from scrimmage to push the margin to 28-0.
Chetopas passing attack began to click from there. Vanatta connected with Kade Hoppock twice for long gains, the second a 14-yard touchdown pass on fourthand-10, closing the gap to 28-6.
