Jake Weakley’s touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 in overtime secured a 34-28 victory for Northern Heights on Friday.
Osage City hung in despite having multiple players out with injuries.
“We felt our kids played their hearts out,” Osage City coach Mike Ritzel said. “They just came up short. We thought the young kids we put in played as well as they could.”
The Indians forced an overtime after trailing 28-25 with just 2:01 remaining.
After driving down the field, Osage City’s Evan Faulkner connected on a 39-yard field goal with 47 seconds remaining to send it to OT.
Weakley was the workhorse for Heights, having a hand in all of the Wildcats’ five touchdowns. The quarterback rushed for four scores and passed for another, finishing 19-of-26 for 176 yards through the air.
Colton Rinzler also had an impressive start at quarterback for Osage City, stepping in for Joey Giesy and completing 10-of-14 passes for 152 yards.
The Indians’ Tyrel Clark added 30 catches for 174 yards in the loss.
Southern Coffey Co. 30
Hamilton 28, (OT)
Hamilton came inches from its first win Friday night, falling just short in a two-point overtime loss to Southern Coffey County, 30-28.
“It was a good defensive battle,” Hamilton coach Brett Dannels said. “Both teams worked really well. It’s a game that stinks to lose but is fun to play.”
Trailing 22-16 late in the fourth quarter, Hamilton’s Jeff Smith tied it up on a 10-yard touchdown reception from cousin Beau Smith.
Charlie Schlotterbeck attempted the two-point conversion to put the Tigers in front. He tried to work it in on a run, falling on his own player and perhaps leaning over the goal line.
Officials ruled he was stopped short of the end zone.
Schlotterbeck added a four-yard TD run in overtime, but it wouldn’t be enough. He finished with 22 carries for 105 yards.
Hamilton outgained Southern Coffey County 213-150, but the Tigers lost all four of their fumbles.
Waverly 62, Crest 14
Waverly need only two quarters to dispose of Crest, enforcing the 45-point run-rule after a 62-point first half.
Matt Coursen jumpstarted the offense, scoring on his first punt return and also his first rush.
The 64-yard punt return gave the Bulldogs their first score, and Coursen’s 55-yard dash on the team’s first offensive play helped make it 14-0.
“Matt made two to three runs where he broke some tackles and ran with some authority,” Waverly coach Mike Hevel said.
Waverly put up the first 46 points before Crest finally answered with a score.
Coursen led the way, rushing nine times for 138 yards with two touchdowns. He also added a fumble return TD, a punt return TD and a two-point conversion.
Kevin Schmidt made a name for himself filling in for the injured Dakota Foster. The back carried it 10 times for 45 yards and three scores.
Waverly — still ranked No. 1 in the state — improved its record to 7-0 with the victory.
Olpe 71, Yates Center 6
The Olpe Eagles maintained their undefeated record in their game against Yates Center. The Eagles shutout Yates Center until the fourth quarter, when Russell Gehrer made a two-yard run for the final touchdown of the game.
“Yates is really down,” Olpe coach Mike Plunkett said. “They didn’t bring too many kids, so we were able to jump on them pretty quick.”
Opening the game was Seth Pargman, with two touchdown receptions from quarterback Tanner Coble. Leading in individual touchdowns was Olpe’s Drew Pettijohn, who scored four touchdowns.
Yates Center outgained Olpe in passing yards, but the Eagles took their big lead with rushing yards. Leading the Eagles in rushing yards was Colter Stueve with 117 of the team’s 371-yard total. Following Colter in rushing were Tanner Coble with 64 yards, Alex Medenciy with 54 yards, and Micheal Schmidt with 43 yards.
“Our offense and special teams did really well,” Plunkett said. “We did a lot of things really well, but it was against a team that’s really down right now.”
St. Marys 22, Lyndon 6
Friday night’s game ended in defeat for the Lyndon Tigers, as they faced off against the St. Marys Bears.
“Our kids played really hard and we did really good,” coach Damon Leiss said, “but we can’t make mistakes. We had way too many penalties.”
The Bears played a tough game, scoring 14 points by the end of the first half. Leading St. Marys was Zemek, who was their only scorer throughout the game.
The lone touchdown for the Lyndon Tigers was an impressive 93-yard kickoff return by Keene Niemack in the third quarter.
“If we play this hard in the rest of our district games,” Leiss said, “ then we have a chance at making the playoffs.”
St. Marys and Lyndon have identical records of 3-4.
Madison 48,
Williamsburg 0
The Madison Bulldogs ended Friday’s game with an overwhelming victory against Williamsburg. Starting the scoring was a 13-yard pass to Donovan Hamilton from Jordan Stout. Madison led the game at half, 26-0.
Williamsburg never recovered, while the Bulldogs went on to score three more consecutive touchdowns in the third quarter.
Although Williamsburg nearly doubled Madison’s passing yards, it wasn’t enough to take the win. Williamsburg quarterback Matt Chanay threw a total of 11 passes, four of which were completed for 51 yards.
Leading the scoring for the Bulldogs was Micheal Luthi with three individual touchdowns as well as one completed two-point conversion. Luthi also made up half of the Bulldogs rushing yards, with a total of 12 carries for 142 yards. Leading Williamsburg in rushing was quarterback Matt Chanay with 17 carries for 61 yards.
The victory for the Madison Bulldogs earns them their sixth win of the season, while Williamsburg fell to 3-4 on the season.
Flinthills 38,
Altoona Midway 34
Josh Brown’s eight-yard touchdown run with 2:13 remaining gave Flinthills the come-from-behind victory over Altoona Midway on Friday.
The Mustangs trailed by eight with 7:39 left but rallied for a pair of scores late. Matt Birks’ two-yard touchdown run put Flinthills down by two, and Brown’s run proved to be the game-winner.
Cody Oates led Flinthills in rushing, carrying it 18 times for 108 yards and a touchdown. Brown was right behind, contributing 87 yards on 18 carries with two scores.
Receiver Jimmy Michal added four catches for 76 yards.
Midway was hindered by three fumbles, an interception and 50 yards of penalties.
Gazette sports intern Erica Bennett and sports reporter Jesse Newell contributed to this report.