LE ROY — Korey Lankton’s plans were working to perfection in the early going of Southern Coffey County High’s regular season finale Thursday evening. Waverly 0-32-0-14—46
The Titans were stifling, holding their visitors from Waverly scoreless and leading 6-0 on Walker Harred’s 6-yard run with 3:14 left in the first period.
“Defensively, we did a lot of good things,” said Lankton, SCC’s head coach.
But Waverly adjusted to Southern Coffey County’s defense in the second period, scoring three times in a span of 6 1/2 minutes to lead 24-6.
The Titans didn’t go quietly. Harred tossed a 57-yard pass to Josiah Witteman with 3:51 left in the half to close the deficit to 24-12.
But SCC’s inability to run the ball prevented the Titans from holding possession late in the half.
“We couldn’t move the chains and run out the clock, and they were able to get a pass for a touchdown on fourth down with 30 seconds left,” Lankton said. “That hurt.”
The sequence gave the Bulldogs just enough breathing room to cruise from there in the second half of their 46-20 win.
The loss drops Southern Coffey to 3-6 on the season and eliminates the Titans from the Kansas Eight Man, Division II playoffs.
“Waverly has a solid running game,” Lankton said. “They are tough to stop, but it was tough to compete with them when we couldn’t get our running game going the way we would like to.”
But the Titans didn’t make it easy.
“Our defense stepped up in the third quarter and created some turnovers,” Lankton said.
Harred scored his second touchdown of the night on a 35-yard run late in the period to cut the gap to 32-20, before Waverly scored twice in a 2-minute span early in the fourth period to seal the win.
Harred rushed for 131 yards and was 1 of 1 passing for 57 yards. Witteman had 77 yards on three receptions and rushed for r16 yards.
On defense, Witteman racked up 19 tackles and Harred 18. Michael Hill added 10 tackles and an interception. Tanner Garretson added a fumble recovery. Hunter Pankey had nine tackles and Jordan Edwards eight.
Waverly rushed for 300 yards on the night. Both team committed two penalties.
So. Coffey Co. 6-6-8-0—20
SCC — Harred 6 yd run (run failed)
Waverly — Tyson 1 yd run (Schmidt run)
Waverly — Schmidt 11 yd run (Schmidt run)
Waverly — Bailey 1 yd run (Majors pass from Tyson)
SCC — Witteman 57 yd pass from Harred (pass failed)
Waverly — Meyers 19 yd pass from Tyson (Schmidt run)
SCC — Harred, 36 yd run (Newkirk run)
Waverly — Tyson 4 yd run (Bailey run)
Waverly — Bailey 14 yd run (pass failed)
Waverly SCC
First Downs 13 5
Rushes-yds 53-305 40-158
Passing yds 81 74
Total offense 386 232
Passing 4-10-1 4-14-1
Fumbles lost 1 NA
Punts/avg. NA 3/30
Penalties 2-30 2-10
Titans come up short in playoff bid
