Pictured is Abilene Senior, Weston Rock, picture courtesy of Brad Anderson
ABILENE: The Abilene Cowboys put together their best performance of the season Friday night in a 22-20 overtime loss to undefeated, #3 in 3A ranked Marysville. It was Abilene’s first overtime game since the Cowboys lost 28-27 at Wamego on October 13, 2017.
Friday night, Abilene got off to a fast start. The Cowboys stopped Marysville on downs at the Abilene 4 yard line with 2:19 to play in the opening quarter. The Cowboys then put together a 5 play, 96 yard drive. The drive was capped by a 60 jet sweep from Quarterback Taygen Funston to Weston Rock. That gave Abilene a 7-0 lead with 13 second left in the 1st quarter. Rock, a 6’1” 175 Senior, was the Player of the Game. He finished with 5 catches for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The 2nd quarter belonged to Marysville. Abilene only had 5 total offensive plays in the entire quarter. The Bulldogs finally got on the board on their third possession. They took control of the ball with 27 second left in the opening quarter. They put together an 18 play, 96 yard drive that lasted 7:53. The drive was capped by a Quarterback, Will Ottot 6 yard run. He added the 2 point conversion to give Marysville an 8-7 lead with 4:24 to play in the half. Ottot wasn’t done he added a 1 yard run with 46 seconds left in the 2nd quarter to extend the Bulldog lead to 14-7. Ottot was Honorable Mention, All-NCKL last season at QB and all-league on defense. The 6’2” 190 Senior, finished the night with 27 carries for 170 yards with 2 touchdowns. He also threw for 48 yards and another score.
Abilene opened the second half with the football and put together their best drive of the season. The Cowboys engineered an 11 play, 66 yard drive that took 5:01. The drive was capped by Sophomore, Dayven Cuba, who scored on a 5 yard run with 6:54 to play in the 3rd quarter. It was his first varsity touchdown of his career.
In overtime, Marysville started with the football. Ottot on 3rd and Goal from the Abilene 9 yard line found Dakotah Slupianek for the score. It was Slupianek’s first catch of the season from his fullback position. He added the 2 point conversion run which turned out to be the deciding points. The 6’1” 240 Senior, had a huge night with 22 carries for 103 yards. Abilene scored on a 10 yard jet sweep catch and run by Rock. The Cowboys came up just short on a 2 point conversion try with a pass that fell incomplete.
Abilene fell to 2-3, 2-3 with the loss and will host Augusta Friday. Marysville improved to 5-0, 3-0 with the win and the Bulldogs will travel to Rock Creek next week.
