TOPEKA — Brandon Gentz was spectacular. He also made a few mistakes.
Fortunately for Emporia High, there was a whole lot more of the former than the latter.
Gentz had 100 rushing yards and three touchdowns before the half, outshining Topeka West’s own athletic running quarterback as the Spartans opened district play with a 46-14 victory on Friday at Hummer Sports Park.
The junior QB finished with 108 yards on 11 carries, and his three great TD runs largely carried Emporia (5-2) during a first half in which the Chargers (1-6) managed to hang around for awhile, thanks to some Spartan penalties and miscues. Mark Kolmer added 143 rushing yards and three TDs of his own, going over the 1,000-yard mark for the season, and the Spartans played a mistake-free second half to win with ease.
“We came out and we started pretty well the first couple of series,” Gentz said. “But then we started getting lackadaisical, which we can’t do, especially when we start getting around playoff time and these important games. But I thought we bounced back well after halftime, and that’s the important thing.”
Gentz made a perfect option read on first-and-10 from the Topeka West 12 on the Spartans’ first drive, rolling to his left and running right past a Charger outside linebacker and into the end zone less than five minutes into the game. He topped that by a mile on Emporia’s next drive with a shifty run down the left sideline that featured at least one juke in traffic, sprinting past the West defense for a 45-yard scoring run. And with 33 seconds remaining in the first half, he finished off a play-action, off-tackle run, cutting from right to left at the second level for a 17-yard score. With the extra point, that TD made it 28-14 and put the Chargers back at arm’s length before the half.
Those three plays were more than enough to offset Gentz’s two first-half fumbles, one of which the Spartans lost, and an interception that glanced off receiver Bryce Childs and into the hands of West defensive back Nikolos Giancana. Emporia overcame some other first-half mistakes, including five penalties before the break.
“That’s the big thing — (if) we just play smart and don’t turn it over,” EHS coach Bill Lowe said. “We gave up a couple of big pass plays on ’em that we felt bad about that let ’em kind of hang around. But they’ve been getting better and better, and they’ve been playing people pretty close, so I’m proud of our kids.”
With Gentz dazzling the Hummer crowd with his feet, Kolmer went over the 1,000-yard mark in relatively quiet fashion. But a 46-yard run down the left side early in the second quarter was Kolmer’s biggest highlight; he was finally dragged down at the 1 by Giancana, but the 46-yard dash gave Kolmer exactly 1,000 yards for the year. One play later, he flipped back-first into the end zone, then added an off-tackle run on the 2-point play to make it 21-7.
Kolmer eventually reached 1,068 yards for the season and added scoring runs of eight and three yards in the second half, during which the Spartans controlled the clock and the game behind another strong performance by their offensive line.
“We got on our blocks, and we just did our job,” left guard Lorenzo Serna said. “There were times when we did have trouble, we weren’t (moving) our feet. But the scoreboard showed that we were doing our job.”
Topeka West tried to answer Gentz’s runs with its big and athletic senior quarterback, Tyrell Brown, and at times, the Chargers succeeded. Brown rushed for 109 yards in 18 attempts and twice burned the Spartan secondary for big-play passes in the first half. The first was a 38-yard strike to Andrew Smith to set up Brown’s 1-yard TD run to make it 13-7. Then, with 4:10 left in the half, Nikolos Giancana scored on a 42-yard throw after breaking wide open downfield.
But Brown also fumbled twice in the second half, the second of which was scooped up by Andrew Laib and returned nine yards for Emporia’s final touchdown.
“It was a fun win, and it’s a big win, but it’s the first step,” Lowe said of the Spartans winning their first district game. “And it’s just like last year — we’ve got to buckle up, and we’ve got some tough competition coming up the next two games.”
Emporia will host Salina Central next Friday.
Friday at Hummer Sports Park
Emporia 13 15 12 6 — 46
Topeka West 0 14 0 0 — 14
First quarter
EMP — Gentz 12 run (Kolmer kick)
EMP — Gentz 45 run (kick failed)
Second quarter
TW — Brown 1 run (Neal kick)
EMP — Kolmer 1 run (Kolmer run)
TW — Giancana 42 pass from Brown (Neal kick)
EMP — Gentz 17 run (Kolmer kick)
Third quarter
EMP — Kolmer 8 run (kick failed)
EMP — Kolmer 3 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
EMP — Laib 9 fumble return (kick failed)
GAME STATISTICS
EMP TW
First downs 19 12
Rushes-yards 53-365 32-178
Comp.-Att.-Int. 3-4-1 6-15-0
Passing yards 73 131
Total yards 438 309
Penalties-yards 7-44 6-52
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2
Punts-Avg. 3-37.3 4-29.2
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — EMP: Kolmer 22-143, Gentz 11-108, Lindquist 6-33, Loucks 3-31, A. Knight 7-25, Sheldon 1-17, Je. Parks 2-6, Pearson 2-2; TW: Brown 18-109, Plump 10-68, Okoronkwo 1-1, Holt 3-0.
Passing — EMP: Gentz 3-4-1; TW: Brown 6-14-0, Plump 0-1-0.
Receiving — EMP: Loucks 2-42, Thomsen 1-31; TW: Smith 3-75, Giancana 1-42, Hinnant 1-13, Plump 1-1.