Lighting a Fire
Emporia High scorches Topeka High in 2nd half to claim 1st victory of the season, 35-15
By Michael Ashford
Saturday, September 8, 2007
The Emporia High football team lived by a Vince Lombardi quote this past week in practice leading up to Friday night’s game against Topeka High, so much so that quarterback Taylor Euler could recite the entire thing by heart.
“‘I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour is that moment when he’s worked his heart out for a good cause and lies on the field of battle exhausted — victorious,’” Euler said, quoting the legendary Green Bay Packers coach. “That quote was our fire beneath us. We memorized it.”
Euler and the Spartans believed they followed Lombardi’s advice as best they could against the visiting Trojans, using a 24-point second half to pull away from Topeka High to earn their first victory of the season, 35-15.
“We did a lot of soul-searching,” Euler said. “I think we found who we really are and who we can be, but ... we can be even better.”
Behind a powerful running game that was sorely lacking in the Spartans’ 28-10 loss a week ago, Emporia High (1-1, 1-0 Centennial League) scored four of its five touchdowns on the ground led by Edd Noonan’s 159 yards and two TDs, with Euler adding 96 yards rushing and another score.
Coupled with a defense that smothered Topeka High’s big-play threat, John Babb, holding him to just 57 yards on 14 carries, the Spartans turned a tight game at halftime into a sleeper after the break.
“The kids responded well in the second half,” coach Bill Lowe said. “I’m just proud of our effort. We played a lot harder.”
Emporia wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, driving 55 yards in seven plays — all runs — on its first possession to reach the end zone when Noonan took it in from 4 yards out to make it 6-0 after the extra point failed.
Topeka High (0-2, 0-2) answered right back, though, as fullback Riley Williams took a handoff right up the middle and tore off an 84-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 6, as Topeka also missed its extra point.
Emporia scored once more in the first half when Noonan scored from 6 yards out to make it 12-6, and the Trojans added a field goal just before the half to make it 12-9.
Despite being ahead by just three points at halftime, Lowe and the Spartans were pleased with the play of the defense, as it had allowed just 54 yards outside of Williams’ long TD run. Add in that the offense gained 174 yards and only had to punt once, and Lowe said his team was one or two plays away from breaking out.
“I thought our defense played really well,” Lowe said. “All we really did was give up that one big run. We stopped ourselves offensively at times, and we challenged them at the half and told them they needed to step up.”
The Spartans responded to that challenge in the second half, outscoring the Trojans 24-6 highlighted by a couple of nifty touchdowns by Euler — one on the ground and one through the air.
Emporia received the ball out of the locker room and used a steady helping of Noonan, who rushed for 55 yards on the drive, to move the ball down to the Topeka High 19-yard line. On second-and-9 from the 19, Euler took the snap and turned to his left when it appeared the play was supposed to go to the right. He spun around and started toward the right sideline, where he was met by a host of Topeka High defenders.
Euler dodged several attempted tacklers and started upfield. He cut back to the left side of the field and had nothing but open field in front of him, taking it in to put help put EHS ahead 20-9 after Noonan converted the two-point conversion run.
Two possessions later, Euler again showed off his escapability, finding Harriston Stone on a comebacker in the end zone after Euler had scrambled for several seconds in the backfield.
“When the line blocks that good, everything opens up,” Euler said. “We told them (the linemen) to block for 7 seconds, and if they block for 7 seconds, then I’ll make things happen. The linemen just stayed on their blocks — they didn’t know what was going on behind them. They did a great job with that, and I just found the end zone on those plays.”
Euler’s TD pass to Stone was set up by an interception by Brandon Childs, who stepped in front of a Sam Johnson pass intended for D.J. Wakes and took it 18 yards to the 19.
“I knew they put No. 4 (Wakes) out there and that they were going to get him the ball,” Childs said. “I saw him take off for the slant and I just broke and took it. After that, I just tried to get as many yards as possible.”
After EHS recovered a fumble on Topeka High’s next possession, Mark Kolmer capped Emporia’s scoring with a 1-yard TD plunge that made it 35-9 with the extra point. The Trojans added a late touchdown against the Spartans’ second-string defense, leaving the EHS defenders wanting more out of themselves.
“We can always improve,” Childs said. “We could have done a lot better than we did, but I guess we got the job done. We’ll take a win.”
Much like last season, Emporia opened the year with a loss to Blue Valley West before getting on track with a victory over Topeka High. That eventually led to a five-game winning streak.
With a road game at rival Washburn Rural next week, the Spartans hope history repeats itself in the coming weeks, as Emporia defeated Rural last year, 14-7.
“This (beating Topeka High) shows us that, once again, we can win,” Childs said. “We just have to keep rolling with it like we did last year.”
Emporia High 35, Topeka High 15
Friday at Emporia
Topeka High 6 3 0 6 — 15
Emporia 6 6 16 8 — 35
First Quarter
Emp — Edd Noonan 4 run (kick failed)
TH — Riley Williams 84 run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
Emp — Noonan 6 run (conversion failed)
TH — Sam Johnson 30 field goal
Third Quarter
Emp — Taylor Euler 19 run (Noonan run)
Emp — Harrison Stone 9 pass from Euler (Noonan run)
Fourth Quarter
Emp — Mark Kolmer 1 run (Blaze Witten kick)
TH — Williams 17 pass from D.J. Wakes (kick failed)
GAME STATISTICS
TH Emporia
First downs 13 17
Rushes-yards 37-182 44-289
Comp-att-int 5-14-1 4-5-0
Passing yards 63 29
Total plays-yards 51-245 49-318
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 4-19 6-45
Punts-avg 4-24.8 2-49.9
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — TH: John Babb 14-57, Riley Williams 9-102, D.J. Wakes 7-19, Steven Tate 2-9, Bryce Parrish 3-5, Sam Johnson 2-(-10). Emporia: Edd Noonan 24-159, Taylor Euler 10-96, Mark Kolmer 10-34.
PASSING — TH: Wakes 5-11-0 63, Johnson 0-3-1 0. Emporia: Euler 4-5-0 29
RECEIVING — TH: Williams 5-63. Emporia: Noonan 1-12, Harrison Stone 1-9, Corey Bacon 1-8, Kolmer 1-0.
PUNTING — TH: Johnson 4-24.8. Emporia: Brandon Childs 2-49.0.
RECORDS — TH (0-2, 0-2 Centennial League). Emporia (1-1, 1-0 Centennial League).