ALLEN — The rain, wind and a Chase County defense looking for redemption combined to make the perfect storm to slow the Northern Heights’ offense on Friday night.
The Bulldogs forced three turnovers; the Wildcats forced zero, and that was the difference in a 13-6 Chase County win.
Chase County’s Johnny Lang forced and recovered a fumble at the NHHS two-yard line in the second quarter to set up Jesse Cole’s two-yard touchdown run and Jace Francka’s game-winning extra point.
The Bulldogs would add a late touchdown following Brandon Line’s interception that sealed the win for the Bulldogs.
Line and his fellow defensive backs got scorched for 216 passing yards in a 48-28 loss to Mission Valley last week.
“We came out, and we were wanting to redeem ourselves really bad,” Line said.
The Wildcats, a notorious passing team, had to be licking their chops to face the Bulldog defensive backs. But Gail Lee struggled to complete any passes other than the swing pass, and he finished just 10-for-19 for 125 yards and an interception.
Northern Heights’ only big passing play came on a 57-yard reverse-pass from Nick Mendez to Ethan Grother that set up Heights’ only touchdown, a two-yard run by Lee.
“We wanted to make a statement that (last week) was kind of a fluke,” Lang said. “We can (play) pass defense a lot better than we did.”
D.J. Bronson replaced Lee for the Wildcats’ final drive, needing to take his team 95 yards to tie the game. Bronson went 0-for-2 and was intercepted when Lang knocked his pass away right into the hands of Line.
“They played pretty well,” Chase County coach Derick Budke said of his defensive backs. “Brandon Line is a kid that struggled a little bit early in the season, but he came back and played a hell of a game. He did a great job for us and I can’t be happier for those guys. The criticism they’ve received this year, and then to bounce back is excellent.”
Chase County’s offense was not as impressive, racking up just 178 yards, but the most important number for the Bulldogs was zero, as in zero turnovers.
“They kind of killed themselves on that fumble,” quarterback Shawn Talkington said. “I don’t remember us having any fumbles, which was key. Field position was obviously big in this game, because the field is so wet, you can’t really pass.”
Budke stuck to his running game and ran the ball up the middle with Lang and Jesse Cole. The one risk he did take in the passing game worked out.
Facing third-and-15 midway through the fourth quarter, Talkington rolled to his right and lofted a pass to Line for 46 yards. The Bulldogs did not score on the drive, but they got the ball all the way to the 5-yard line, and the Wildcats had only 2:09 left to score when they got the ball back.
After Bronson’s interception, Lang added a two-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left.
Northern Heights dropped to 1-3 with the loss. Chase County improved to 3-1, rebounding from last week and setting up a big league game next week against Osage City.
“It’s huge after last week,” Talkington said. “Our morale was so low last Friday after that. It’s a good win, be able to start another streak here going into the meat of our season.”
Friday at Northern Heights
Chase County 13, Northern Heights 6
Chase County 0 7 0 6 — 13
Northern Heights 6 0 0 0 — 6
First quarter
NH — Lee 1 run (kick failed)
Second quarter
CC — Cole 2 run (Franco kick)
Fourth quarter
CC — Cole 2 run (kick failed)
GAME STATISTICS
CC NH
First downs 9 10
Rushes-yards 38-112 23-50
Passing yards 66 182
Comp.-Att.-Int. 4-10-0 11-22-2
Total plays-yards 48-178 47-243
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-yards 5-29 6-64
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — CC: Cole 22-61, Lang 9-20,Talkington 12-(minus-2); NH: Mendez 7-41, Tabares 3-7, Murray 2-3, Lee 10-(minus 3).
Passing —CC: Talkington 4-10-0 66; NH: Lee 10-19-1 125, Mendez 1-1-0 57, Bronson 0-2-1 0.
Receiving — CC: Lang 2-21, Cole 1-(minus-1), Line 1-46; NH: Mendez 5-27, Grother 3-76, Britton 1-11, Tabares 2-11.