COLONY — Perhaps it was natural that Crest High, which had been so dominant in the regular season, was expecting a cakewalk to open the Kansas Eight Man-II postseason playoffs Thursday.
After all, the Lancers had won each of their previous eight games by at least 36 points, and were set to host Wakefield, a team that had won only twice — against teams with a combined 1-13 mark.
Crest received an emphatic wakeup call when Wakefield scored just seconds into the game to take the lead.
The Lancers rebounded, and how, behind the work of standout senior Jacquez Coleman, who accounted for 348 yards of total offense and six touchdowns to bring back a sense of normalcy in a 56-26 romp.
But it was anything but pleasing to head coach Nick McAnulty.
“We were not very clean,” McAnulty noted. “We had a lot of penalties that took a couple of scores off the board. And we had miscommunication, where the guys sent in the wrong play five or six times. That’s not something we’ve done all year.”
McAnulty attributes the missteps to a lack of focus.
“I think we were looking beyond Wakefield, and that hurt us offensively,” he said. “Granted, we still put up a lot of points, but we’ve got to stay focused, and the guys know that.”
The win sets up a showdown at 7 p.m. Friday when Crest hosts the Hartford Jaguars, who opened the postseason with a 62-12 thrashing of St. Paul.
For anyone interested in comparison scoring, Hartford defeated Wakefield, 54-24, earlier in the season, while Crest toppled St. Paul, 54-8, in Week 4.
McAnulty expects a hotly contested matchup.
“They’re big; real big,” he said.
Hartford is paced by running back Shayden Sull, who’s nearing the 1,000-yard mark on the season, with 15 touchdowns on the ground.
“We’ve gotta take care of the run, but they’ll throw it, too,” McAnulty said, pointing to sophomore quarterback Ali Smith. “And they have a couple of good receivers.”
Crest fans are well familiar with Hartford’s potential.
Crest opened the 2019 season at home against the Jaguars, and trailed 14-0 early before rallying in a contest that went back-and-forth down the stretch.
Crest led 44-42 in the waning seconds when Tyson Hermreck broke off a long touchdown run to secure a 52-42 win.
The victory came in McAnulty’s debut as Lancer head coach.
