The celebration on the field was extended and exuberant. As the handshake line was beginning, Emporia High coach Bill Lowe jumped into co-defensive coordinator P.J. Marstall’s arms, then gave his star running back, Mark Kolmer, a hug. Well after the Spartans had left the field, Lowe decided that just wasn’t enough. Outside the locker room, Lowe pulled the much-taller Kolmer down by his head and planted a kiss on top of it.
The Spartans are headed back to the State playoffs, so it’s a good time to get just a little crazy.
A huge offensive pass-interference call with 2:19 to go negated a Salina Central first down and gave the Spartans the ball back with the lead, and they held on for a 32-28 win over the Mustangs in a seesaw game on Friday at Welch Stadium. The Spartans’ win, combined with Salina South’s 34-7 win over Topeka West, gave those two teams the two playoff spots for Class 5A’s District 5. The Spartans didn’t know the Salina South final in the moments after their victory, but they knew it was likely that a spot in the playoffs was theirs.
“Like I told ’em, they did it. It’s all on them,” Lowe said. “I challenged ’em at halftime just to find a way in their heart (so) they can play harder than what they were playing in the first half, and play (with) a little more inspiration. And man — they just played lights-out.”
Kolmer ran for 238 yards and three touchdowns in 28 carries — including 162 yards in the second half — and also scooped up a Fraser Egan fumble and ran 75 yards for a score with three minutes left in the first half.
But despite the heroics of Kolmer, the offensive line in front of him and a fine effort by backup quarterback Bryce Childs in relief of an injured Brandon Gentz, the Spartans needed a little rule-breaking from their opponents to finally seal the victory.
Childs, who came in on Emporia’s first drive of the second half when Gentz suffered an apparent hip-pointer, turned a busted running play into a 49-yard run that set up Kolmer’s three-yard touchdown to give Emporia the lead with six minutes left to go. On first down from the Spartan 25, Childs faked a handoff to fullback Brock Sheldon out of an I-formation, then fooled everyone at Welch with an apparent fake to Kolmer, freeing Childs to run all the way to Salina’s 26.
“I wasn’t supposed to have the ball,” Childs said. “I was supposed to fake it and then hand it off to Mark, but I was there a little too late — we didn’t have that timing down. So I just improvised, took off and ran with it. It worked pretty well.”
A Kolmer two-point run gave the Spartans a 32-28 lead, but the Mustang offense quickly made its way down the field. With the Spartans clinging to the four-point advantage, an incomplete pass by Salina Central receiver Shay Wooten set up a 4th-and-4 for Central at Emporia’s 34 with just 2:25 left to go in the game.
Quarterback Trey Dallas dropped back and threw over the middle, hitting Lucas Allen for an apparent first down to keep the drive alive. But a flag came in — Allen had pushed off the defender covering him. The offensive pass interference call was a loss-of-down infraction, giving Emporia the ball at its own 45. The Spartans got to the Central 2-yard line before turning it over with 49.3 seconds to go, and the Mustangs’ desperate final drive fell short.
After a scoreless first quarter, the teams traded leads again and again. Kolmer answered a one-yard run by Egan that gave Central the initial lead with a 44-yard TD run of his own, but Kolmer then missed the extra point to keep the score at 7-6.
His 75-yard fumble return made it 12-7 Spartans before Central scored on a one-yard run by Cale Sharp with just 34.5 seconds left in the half.
Kolmer added a 20-yard touchdown run on Emporia’s opening second-half drive, plus his three-yard run to give the Spartans the winning TD.
“We just played our game,” Kolmer said. “They’re gonna take some things away, that’s gonna open up other things. And we... knew what we had to do.”
Along with his 49-yard keeper, Childs also had a 19-yard run and a one-yard keeper for a touchdown on 4th-and-goal that gave the Spartans a 24-21 lead. He finished with 88 yards rushing on eight carries.
“Bryce is Mr. Cool,” Lowe said. “He never gets rattled and did a great job.”
Emporia (6-2) won despite surrendering 478 yards of offense. Sharp finished with 101 yards on 21 carries for Central (5-3), and Wooten had 98 yards rushing on seven carries, including a 70-yard direct-snap run that gave Central a 28-24 advantage with 7:28 to go.
Next week, Emporia travels to Salina South, with the district championship and a guaranteed home playoff game going to the winner.
But for now, getting in the playoffs for the second time in three years is something for the Spartans, particularly their group of seniors, to enjoy.
“It’s not just for us — it’s trying to start a new legacy here, like they did two years ago,” senior offensive and defensive lineman Danny Goodman said. “Just try to get teams to go to State, and (we) want that to be not... good enough, but (also) to win games and be a threat for the State (championship) all year.”
“I just know there’s a plaque in the weight room that we’re all gonna be on,” Kolmer added, “and it feels really special to be up there with all these guys, knowing that we all worked so hard for one goal. And we gotta keep playing like that.”
Friday at Welch Stadium
Salina Central 0 14 7 7 — 28
Emporia 0 12 6 14 — 32
Second quarter
SC — Egan 1 run (Berner kick)
EMP — Kolmer 44 run (kick failed)
EMP — Kolmer 75 fumble return (run failed)
SC — Sharp 1 run (Berner kick)
Third quarter
EMP — Kolmer 20 run (pass failed)
SC — Allen 35 pass from Dallas (Berner kick)
Fourth quarter
EMP — Childs 1 run (run failed)
SC — Wooten 70 run (Berner kick)
EMP — Kolmer 3 run (Kolmer run)
GAME STATISTICS
SC EMP
First downs 15 14
Rushes-yards 41-260 49-394
Comp.-Att.-Int. 11-23-1 3-6-1
Passing yards 218 16
Total yards 478 410
Penalties-yards 5-42 6-30
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-0
Punts-yards 1-26.0 2-21.5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — SC: Sharp 21-101, Wooten 7-98, Egan 12-59, Dallas 1-2; EMP: Kolmer 28-238, Childs 8-88, Gentz 7-58, Loucks 4-10, Lindquist 2-0.
Passing — SC: Dallas 11-22-1 218, Wooten 0-1-0 0; EMP : Gentz 3-5-1 16, Childs 0-1-0 0.
Receiving — SC: Wooten 5-111, Allen 4-96, Wassenberg 1-7, Egan 1-4; EMP: Loucks 2-12, Thomsen 1-4.
Comments
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mikeandsharonwilliams (anonymous) says...
That may have been the most exciting high school football game I have ever seen! Way to go Spartans!
It is great to see so many players contributing to the victory!
Looking forward to next Friday ... go Spartans!
October 24, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )