The Salina South Cougars battled hard for four quarters but unfortunately fell 21-0 to the Valley Center Hornets in a battle of winless teams on Friday night on the road. Despite the looks of the final margin, the Cougars and Hornets were locked in a one possession game for a majority of the contest.

Valley Center, who have had their own offensive struggles all season thus far, punched in a one yard touchdown on their second drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. That remained the margin between the two teams all the way through the halftime break and well into the fourth quarter.

The final frame is where the Hornets gained some distance as quarterback Connor Meyer connected with receiver Doc Needham for a 31 yard touchdown strike to give Valley Center some breathing room. A Rylan Bailey touchdown run on the ensuing drive gave us the final 21-0 score.

Defensively the Cougars turned in their best performance of the season. They held Valley Center to 168 yards of offense in the first half. Salina South didn’t allow the Hornets much more ground in the second half as they held Valley Center to just 79 yards.

It was the offensive side of the football where the Cougars did struggle however, as they were able to only put up 120 yards of offense on the evening. A majority of those yards were through the air as quarterback Landon Putman threw for 84 yards on the night.

With the loss Salina South falls to 0-5 (0-4) on the season. Valley Center moves to 1-4 (1-2). Salina South will head back home for their next contest as they welcome the Goddard Lions to Salina for Senior Night.

Valley Center (1-4) – 7 – 0 – 0 – 14 – 21

Salina South (0-5) – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Player of the Game: Landon Putman

H&R Block of the Game: Aidan Anderes