Emporia High’s dream of upsetting No.2-ranked Wichita Heights in the opening game of district play clanked off the left upright Friday night after Robert Keisler missed an extra-point attempt that resulted in a 21-20 Emporia High loss, but the Spartans wouldn’t have had a chance at that dream if it weren’t for the senior safety.
“There’s no one to feel worse for than Robert Keisler,” Emporia High coach Bill Lowe said, “but we don’t get in that situation if it wasn’t for Robert. He’s had a great year. I’m just sick for him. But there’s no blame to be placed on anybody.”
Keisler set up the potential game-tying score when he stepped in front of pass by Wichita Heights quarterback Cameron Kasel at the Spartans’ own 40-yard line and returned the interception to the Falcons’ 36 with EHS trailing 21-14.
The Spartans’ pushed the ball down to the Wichita Heights 20-yard line before the drive looked like it would stall when quarterback Taylor Euler was sacked for an eight-yard loss on second-and-8.
Two plays later, with EHS facing a fourth-and-13 from the 25, Euler lofted a pass to the right side of the end zone, where Spartan receiver Bill Malone was locked in double coverage.
All three players leapt for the ball, but Malone went high above the Falcon defenders and came down on his back in the end zone with the ball in hand to draw the Spartans (5-2 overall, 0-1 district) to within a point at 21-20.
“A lot of things depended on that catch,” Malone said. “I just fought for the ball the whole entire time and didn’t give up. It hit my hands, then it bounced around between us, and then it hit my leg and I grabbed it up from there.”
That’s when Keisler came out to attempt the game-tying PAT — he had missed just two all season — and instead of pulling Emporia High even with Heights, Keisler’s attempt hit the left upright and the ball fell to the turf, leaving the Spartans and an elated crowd at Welch Stadium stunned.
“I feel terrible for Robert,” Euler said. “He’s a great guy. You hate to see things like that happen to people like that. He’s blaming it on himself, but he can’t do that because the offense obviously didn’t do its part. It makes you feel terrible for a guy like that.”
Even with the missed PAT, Emporia High still had one last shot at knocking off Heights (7-0, 1-0), provided it could recover an onside kick.
And that’s exactly what the Spartans did.
Eric Wells’ ensuing kickoff went right by a Wichita Heights player — who jumped over the ball instead of landing on it — and Emporia High’s Clint Drake fell on it to give the Spartans new life at the Falcons’ 46-yard line.
But two penalties and a sack stifled the Spartans, as Euler’s fourth-and-24 pass fell incomplete to give the Falcons the ball with just 16.7 seconds left to play, and Heights kneeled it out from there.
“I’m so proud of our kids,” Lowe said. “We grew up in the second half and we figured out what it’s like to be in a championship-type game and to play at that level. We just had so many kids make big play after big play and the kids fought their tails off. I’m just so proud of them and our coaching staff for the fight they showed.”
The effort by the Spartans in the second half — Emporia High held Wichita Heights to just 73 total yards after halftime — more than made up for a first half that saw Kasel rip through the EHS defense for 230 passing yards and three touchdown passes to put Heights up, 21-7 at halftime.
After switching to a zone defense after halftime, the Spartans forced Kasel and the sure-handed Heights receivers into several drops and turnovers, which allowed Emporia High to eventually work itself back into the game.
“We made a lot of mistakes early, and we just found a way to fight back,” Lowe said. “We thought we could get some pressure on him (Kasel) early and we didn’t; we couldn’t get to him and he made us pay for it. But then, we changed it up at halftime and ran a lot more zone, and I think that confused him a little.”
Even before the late-game drama, the Spartans had more opportunities to put point on the board thanks to a couple of turnovers by the Falcons, but the EHS offense had a few too many errors in the form of penalties and negative-yardage plays that kept the Spartans from getting into the end zone a couple more times.
In the third quarter and with EHS trailing 21-7, Corey Bacon intercepted a Kasel pass at the Spartans’ 20-yard line and returned it 48 yards to the Falcons’ 32, but Emporia High went nowhere after a fumbled pitch on second down ripped the momentum from the Spartans and the drive ended on fourth down.
On the next play, EHS defensive lineman James Sparks stripped the ball out of the hands of Heights running back KJ Hill to give Emporia High the ball at the Heights 39.
But this time, the Spartans had three penalties and a sack that killed the drive, and EHS had to punt the ball away.
“We can’t have those stupid mistakes. It just kills drives,” Euler said. “We had the ball in scoring position many times in the second half after our defense got the ball back for us and we wouldn’t do anything with it. The game might have been different if we don’t do those things.”
Sparks again caused a fumble on the very next play, this time stripping Kasel of the ball at the 34-yard line.
EHS finally capitalized on the turnover, going 34 yards in 10 plays to score a touchdown when Euler — as he was being tackled — flipped a pass to running back Mark Kolmer on fourth-and-8 and the 10, which Kolmer took into the end zone on a dive from the 2 to make it 21-14.
“Nothing was open, and at the end of the play, I was going down, and on fourth-and-8 with the game on the line like that, you can’t take the sack,” Euler said. “I just chucked it to Mark and he made a great effort and got the touchdown for us. I don’t know how we did it; it was good luck I guess.”
After their first loss since the season opener, the Spartans now must regroup and prepare to face Manhattan next week on the road.
Lowe said his team has to take the positives out of the game against Heights and use them to bounce back against the Indians.
“We can’t let this get us down,” he said. “We’ve got to come back and refocus and get after Manhattan. This district is wide open, and a lot of things can happen in the next two weeks. We’ve got as good a shot as anybody at getting into the playoffs.
“We’ve got to find a way to get over this and know that we can play with people.”