Five touches were all Corey Bacon needed for an explosive performance.
With Topeka West’s defense focused on stopping Mark Kolmer on Friday at Welch Stadium, Bacon sprinted to center stage. First, there was the 93-yard scoring burst at the end of the first half that gave Emporia High a 21-0 cushion. Then came two more scores in the second half of 21 and 24 yards. There was also a 16-yard run in there, and a two-yard run. And that was it for Bacon — five carries, 156 yards, three big touchdowns, and a starring role in Emporia’s easy 47-0 victory over West to open district play.
It was the kind of low-carry, high-yardage performance usually seen out of blue-chip Division I recruits. But Bacon showed how dangerous he could be last week against Manhattan, when he augmented Kolmer’s 208-yard performance with 146 of his own.
This time, he had the spotlight to himself. And like any back grateful for big holes, he was eager to share it afterward.
“For one thing, you gotta go back to the line,” he said. “They were opening up huge holes. I mean, you can’t ask for better. (Right tackle) Jordan Barr and (right guard) T.J. (Heins) were just creating a lane, and (the defense) was biting down on Mark, and it just opened up.”
Two of Bacon’s TDs were a direct result of West keying on Kolmer and overplaying the fake dive play up the middle. The first was the 93-yard run, which gave Emporia (5-2) a brilliant end to a disappointing first half. With the Spartans seemingly just trying to run the clock out and take their two-score lead to the locker room, West fell hard for the dive-play fake to Kolmer up the middle. Bacon got the handoff on the right side, bolted into the secondary and outran the Chargers to the end zone with just 6.9 seconds left in the half.
“We were just playing it safe, and if it opens up, it opens up,” Bacon said. “We did the belly, and they bit down on Mark, and it opened up once again.”
The same thing happened on Bacon’s 24-yard scoring run, which made it 40-0 with 8:55 left in the game.
But Bacon wasn’t the only Spartan to get loose for a big score. Quarterback Taylor Euler kept left on the option and ran untouched for a 57-yard TD to make it 34-0 with 2:06 left in the third. And backup fullback Brock Sheldon, getting a chance for carries at the end of the game, got a huge hole up the gut and finished off a 54-yard scoring run with 1:01 left.
Special teams helped the Spartans finally get going after a scoreless first quarter. Josh Maguire blocked a punt by Alec Boyd, and Kolmer fell on it at the 18. On Emporia’s next play, Euler found Brian Keisler on an out-route in the left flat, and he got two blocks downfield, reaching the end zone to make it 7-0.
As the Spartans put the game away for their fourth straight win, Topeka West (1-6) struggled as much as would be expected from a team that suffered its fifth shutout of the year. West fumbled eight times, losing two. Aaron Plump had 78 yards on 15 carries for West.
“Credit Topeka West — they played hard,” EHS coach Bill Lowe said. “And our kids, seeing what I was worried about all week: everybody told ’em how they were gonna win, and they were gonna win big. And we come out flat, and we looked really ugly first quarter. But credit Topeka West — they played with heart, they played well and they did a nice job.”
Friday at Welch Stadium
Top. West (1-6, 1-5) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Emporia (5-2, 4-2) 0 21 13 13 — 47
Second quarter
EMP — Keisler 23 pass from Euler (Dorsey kick)
EMP — Kolmer 2 run (Dorsey kick)
EMP — Bacon 93 run (Dorsey kick)
Third quarter
EMP — Bacon 24 run (Dorsey kick)
EMP — Euler 57 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
EMP — Bacon 21 run (run failed)
EMP — Sheldon 54 run (Dorsey kick)
GAME STATISTICS
TW EMP
First downs 10 8
Rushing yards 48-158 43-419
Comp-Att-Int 3-6-0 3-4-49
Passing yards 12 49
Total yards 170 468
Fumbles-lost 8-2 2-1
Penalties-yards 1-15 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — TW: Plump 15-78, Brown 19-49, Nash 11-26, Turner 2-8, Duckworth 1-(-3); EMP: Bacon 5-156, Euler 9-101, Kolmer 19-76, Sheldon 3-64, Keisler 4-20, Santos 1-2, Pearson 1-1, Gentz 1-(-1).
Passing — TW: Brown 3-6-0; EMP: Euler 3-4-0.
Receiving — TW: Turner 2-12, Selley 1-0; EMP: Loucks 1-20, Keisler 1-18, Bland 1-11.