DOWNS — Lakeside High’s relentless ground attack brought a disappointing end to Marmaton Valley High’s season Saturday.
The Knights scored early and often, racking up more than 500 rushing yards in the process, in a 70-28 win over the Wildcats in Kansas Eight Man, Division I play.
The loss ends Marmaton Valley’s season with a 7-3 record. Lakeside advances to the state semifinals against top-ranked Madison High. Both squads are undefeated at 11-0.
“They were quick, and they were athletic,” Wildcat head coach Kent Houk said. “Madison’s gonna have its hands full against this team.”
Doing the lion’s share of the damage for Lakeside was its bruising fullback, 220-pound senior Miles Thomas, who broke two tackles on the Knights’ first play from scrimmage and rambled 61 yards for a touchdown.
“They just smacked us off the ball, and we didn’t wrap up well,” Houk said.
Thomas’ run, followed by a Marmaton Valley fumble that led to another Lakeside touchdown, gave the Knights a 12-0 lead before much of the crowd had settled into its seats.
The Wildcats showed some spunk of their own.
Forced into an under-utilized passing attack, Marmaton Valley reached the scoreboard midway through the first quarter on a 37-yard pass from Jimmy Frye to Carlos Gonzales to cut the lead to 12-6. Frye was inserted into the starting quarterback role after starter and senior Zack English, as well as receiver Daylen Houk, were suspended prior to the game for violating team rules.
“It is what it is,” Houk said. “Losing those two hurt us on offense and defense, but that wasn’t what decided the game. They were just more athletic than we were.”
The touchdown pass was noteworthy in more ways than one. It was the first time the Wildcats scored a touchdown on a pass this season.
After two more Knight scores, the Wildcats came agonizingly close to creating a huge momentum shift in the second quarter. Frye cut into Lakeside’s lead with a 10-yard touchdown run. The ensuing two-point conversion put Marmaton Valley within 26-14, and two Lakeside penalties meant Marmaton Valley kicked off from the Knight 25.
An onside kick bounced freely down the sidelines, and a Marmaton Valley player dove for the ball, but could only deflect it out of bounds at the Lakeside 1. The Knights converted a key fourth-and-one from its 10-yard line, then scored a couple of plays later when Thomas broke free for a 68-yard scamper.
Lakeside led 40-14 before Cole Becker plowed in from two yards out late in the first half. Marmaton Valley then recovered an onside kick to open the third quarter, but a crucial holding penalty negated a first-down run by Becker on fourth-and-11. The Wildcats were forced to punt.
Lakeside scored the next three touchdowns to put the game out of reach at 62-20.
Becker scored on a 35-yard run in the waning seconds of the third quarter for Marmaton Valley’s final tally.
Becker gained 72 yards on 15 carries. Frye rushed 14 times for 37 yards and completed 5 of 22 passes for 116 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
“They out-physicaled us,” Becker said. “We started picking it up in the second quarter, but they were able to get some big plays on us.”
Houk lauded his team’s effort, as well as the fan support. An estimated 150 supporters made the nearly five-hour trek to Downs in north-central Kansas.
“It’s a pride thing,” Houk said. “We kept on fighting and never gave up.”
The Wildcats will lose seniors English, Stewart, Nathen Fry, Kaleb Stroud and Austin Harrison.
Stroud left the game near the end of the third quarter after taking a blow to the head.
“Probably the hardest thing I had to do was to tell him he couldn’t go back into the game,” Houk said. “He worked his tail off for us all season and he had to miss his last quarter as a senior.”
Becker piled up 17 tackles on defense, followed by Harrison with 10, Gonzales with seven stops and an interception, Frye with two fumble recoveries and Nich Trollope with a fumble recovery.
Thomas racked up 242 yards on 15 carries for the Knights. Trevor Winkel rushed 13 times for 107 yards.
Game numbers
MVHS 6-14-8-0—28
Lakeside 26-14-22-8—70
Lakeside — Thomas 61 yd. run (pass failed)
Lakeside — Domoney 6 yd. run (run failed)
MV — Gonzales 37 yd. pass from Frye (run failed)
Lakeside — Thomas 7 yd. run (Renken run)
Lakeside — Thomas 3 yd. pass from Renken (run failed)
MV — Frye 10 yd. run (Stewart fumble recovery in end zone)
Lakeside — Thomas 68 yd. run (Renken run)
Lakeside — Lenken 1 yd. run (run failed)
MV — Becker 2 yd. run (run failed)
Lakeside — Winkel 16 yd. run (Thomas run)
Lakeside — Thomas 41 yd. run (pass failed)
Lakeside — Lewis 4 yd. run (Winkel pass from Renken)
MV — Becker 35 yd. run (Hamlin pass from Frye)
Lakeside — Safety (MV sacked in end zone)
Lakeside — Renken 1 yd. run (pass failed)
MV Lakeside
First downs 7 19
Rushes-yds 41-116 55-541
Passing yds 116 23
Total Offense 232 564
Passing 6-25-2 2-8-1
Fumbles lost 2/2 4/3
Punts-avg. 5-26 1-17
Penalties-yds 10-90 10-90
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Marmaton Valley-Becker 15-72, Frye 14-37, Smith 4-4, Hall 1-2. Lakeside-Thomas 15-242, Winkel 13-107, Lewis 12-86, Domoney 7-45, Renken 6-33, Underwood 1-12, Gasper 1-(-1).
Passing: Frye 5-22-116-2, Smith 1-1-(-4), Becker 0-2-0. Lakeside-Propst 6-12-111-1, Witte 2-8-23-1.
Receiving: Marmaton Valley-English Gonzales 3-38, Smith 1-37, Hamlin 1-25.
