SALINA — During Salina Central’s last drive, it seemed inevitable.
Emporia High hadn’t been able to put Central at arm’s length, hadn’t been able to put the Mustangs away and seal a spot in the Class 5A playoffs. And as the final minutes ticked away in a tied game, and Central marched deeper into Spartan territory, the Mustangs seemed destined to get the last points they needed in a game they hadn’t led.
They did — and even as Emporia still controls its own destiny, the Spartans still have lots of work to do to keep playing beyond next week.
Eric Berner’s 30-yard field goal with six seconds left gave Salina Central a come-from-behind 31-28 over Emporia and put the Spartans in a must-win situation when they host Salina South next week. And just winning won’t be enough — points are likely to come into play to determine whether Emporia makes it to the postseason.
The fact that Emporia led for much of the game — getting the opening score on a TD pass from Taylor Euler to Corey Bacon and subsequently answering every tying TD by Central with a TD of its own until Central tied it at 28 — doesn’t reflect domination by the Spartans. In fact, this was the first game since EHS’s last loss — five weeks ago — that the Spartans didn’t win the all-important battle in the trenches.
“They just played like we wanna play,” Emporia coach Bill Lowe said. “They were just a lot more physical, and they knocked us off the ball and we couldn’t stop them. They just beat us at our own game — they were just a lot more physical than we were.”
The final drive was a microcosm of how the second half had gone for Emporia’s defense — the Spartans hadn’t been able to shed at the line and stop quick-footed sophomore running back Cale Sharp, and Central’s top receiver, Seth Myers, had pulled down huge second-half catches that burned the Spartans.
Central started its last drive at its own 30 with 4:55 left, and Sharp carried five times for 31 yards. Myers made a 17-yard catch along the left sideline that put Central at the Emporia 30, and three straight runs by fullback Taylor Counts at the end of the drive set up Berner with just 10 seconds remaining. His kick sailed high and split the uprights, all but ending what had been a back-and-forth scoring duel.
The Spartans got on the board first by going 48 yards on their first drive and continuing their fearless trend of going for it on fourth down. Facing a 4th-and-4 from the Central 6, the Spartans called timeout to talk about it, then came back out on offense. Euler dropped back, scrambled inside a block by the left tackle and lobbed the ball to a wide-open Bacon on the left side of the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Central answered with a seven-yard TD run by Sharp, but Emporia regained the lead just 13 seconds later. Taking the ensuing kickoff at the 5, Josh Maguire burst through a hole up the middle, then cut to the left side and reached the end zone 95 yards later.
Central had another quick response, as a 57-yard pass play from Trey Dallas to Jesse Wassenberg set up a 1-yard TD plunge by Counts, evening the game at 14.
Two 14-yard runs by Bacon helped the Spartans march 77 yards on their next drive, capped with a 1-yard scoring run by Mark Kolmer to make it 21-14, a lead Emporia held at halftime.
“I think the whole second half (was a turning point),” Euler said. “First half, we came out and we were the aggressors. We punched them in the mouth and we played our kind of football. ... And in the second half for some reason, we didn’t come out like that.”
A 65-yard TD pass from Trey Dallas to Myers down the middle of the field tied the game at 21 with 6:08 left in the third. Emporia retook the lead early in the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Euler, but Counts’ second TD, a 12-yard run, tied it 28-28 with 7:44 left in the game.
After Berner’s field goal and the ensuing kickoff, Emporia took over at the 11 with just one second left on the clock. Bacon took a toss on the right side, then slung the ball back to Euler for a double pass. Euler threw the ball back across to Bacon on the right side, but after two desperate laterals and a fumble, the game was over.
Sharp finished with 118 yards rushing for Central. Kolmer led the Spartans with 80 yards rushing, Euler had 74 and Bacon had 64.
Now, Emporia needs to beat Salina South next week, and it’s likely Central will defeat Topeka High. If those two things happen, the Spartans and both Salina teams would be 2-1 in district play. Under district tiebreaker rules, a three-way tie would first be broken by points to determine the district champion, then by head-to-head for the remaining two teams to determine the other state playoff participant.
Friday at Salina
Emporia (5-3) 14 7 0 7 — 28
Salina Central (4-4) 14 0 7 10 — 31
First quarter
EMP — Bacon 6 pass from Euler (Dorsey kick)
SC — Sharp 7 run (Berner kick)
EMP — Maguire 95 kick return (Dorsey kick)
SC — Counts 1 run (Berner kick)
Second quarter
EMP — Kolmer 1 run (Dorsey kick)
Third quarter
SC — Myers 65 pass from Dallas (Berner kick)
Fourth quarter
EMP — Euler 1 run (Dorsey kick)
SC — Counts 12 run (Berner kick)
SC — Berner 30 field goal
GAME STATISTICS
EMP SC
First downs 17 15
Rushes-yards 54-227 44-209
Comp-Att-Int 3-6-0 6-15-0
Passing yards 21 175
Total yards 248 384
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 3-25 4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — EMP: Kolmer 21-80, Euler 18-74, Bacon 14-64, Keisler 1-9; SC: Sharp 22-118, Counts 14-53, Putman 6-33, Dallas 2-5.
Passing — EMP: Euler 3-6-0; SC: Dallas 6-15-0; Wooten 0-1-0.
Receiving — EMP: Bacon 3-21; SC: Myers 3-103, Allen 2-15, Wassenberg 1-57.
Class 5A District 5 standings
Record Points
Salina South 2-0 +20
Salina Central 1-1 -4
Emporia 1-1 +10
Topeka 0-2 -26
Note: Point differentials for a single game have an upper and lower limit of 13. For example, Emporia’s 47-0 win over Topeka West last week was worth +13 to EHS.
Friday’s results
Salina Central 31, Emporia 28
Salina South 38, Topeka West 14
Games Oct. 31
Salina South at Emporia
Topeka West at Salina Central
Highlights
• Cale Sharp’s 64 yards notwithstanding, the first half was all-around solid for the Spartans as they took a 21-14 lead. With the Central defense clogging the middle to stuff Mark Kolmer, Corey Bacon ripped off three runs for double-digit yardage. He also caught a six-yard pass from Euler for the game’s first touchdown.
• Josh Maguire’s 95-yard kickoff return to make it 14-7, the first kickoff or punt return TD of the year for EHS. Maguire got his hole in the middle, then showed breakaway speed in finishing off the run.
Lowlights
• Emporia’s run defense got manhandled at the line of scrimmage, and Sharp’s quickness was tough to contend with. He provided the fast and shifty running, racking up 118 yards, while fullback Taylor Counts bruised the Spartans for several big runs up the gut, including two TDs.
• After a first half in which he dropped a wide-open pass and was otherwise shut down, Central receiver Seth Myers, came alive for three catches that were as big as they come, including a 65-yard TD strike. He was able to get separation from cornerback Cody Lindquist, and the four inches of height he had on Lindquist came in handy on a huge 21-yard grab on 3rd-and-10 early in the fourth quarter.
Bottom line
• Winning this one — which was well within the Spartans’ grasp — would’ve made next week a whole lot easier, knowing that a playoff spot was certain. To get in the playoffs now, EHS has to worry not only about winning next week’s game, but also about point differentials. Hopefully they don’t try to do too much in an attempt to beat Salina South by a sizable margin.