Hoisington 49, Southeast of Saline 42
SE of Saline 16 – 12 – 8 – 6 / 42
Hoisington 14 – 21 – 7 – 7 / 49
SCORING
First Quarter
H – Teron Kraft 2 run (Taylen Morales kick),
SES – Tucker Thaxton 27 pass from Daniel Kjerr (run good), 7:01
H – Tony Moore 43 run (Morales kick), 4:08
SES – Nathan Friesen 25 pass from Kjerr (Boyd pass from Kjerr), 1;48.
Second Quarter
H – Mason Alderdice 4 run (Morales kick), 11:54
H – Kraft 1 run (Morales kick), 9:31
SES – Nathan Friesen 32 pass from Kjerr (run failed), 8:42
H – Carson Mason 17 pass from Moore (Morales kick), 5:30
SES – Kjerr 5 run (pass failed), 1:18
Third Quarter
H – Moore 3 run (Morales kick), 7:54
SES – Grady Gebhardt 37 pass from Kjerr (Gebhardt run), 4;59
Fourth Quarter
H – Jason Robinson 1 run (Morales kick), 11:01
SES – Boyd 17 pass from Kjerr (run failed), 4:49
By CHRISTIAN D ORR, KSAL High School reporter
HOISINGTON – It has been said over the years, in most sports, that defense wins championships.
The Hoisington Cardinal football team had just enough defense Friday night to win the Class 2A Sectional Championship and bring to an end the Southeast of Saline football team’s 2023 season.
In a game that saw the two teams combine for 91 points, it was one 3-and-out and two interceptions that led Hoisington to a 49-42 victory against the Trojans.
Hoisington held Southeast of Saline to a 3-and-out on the game’s first possession and had one interception to halt a Trojan in the first half and a 2nd interception to halt another Trojan drive in the 2nd half.
Hoisington, meanwhile, only had two offensive drives not end with touchdowns, those two drives came at the end of the first half, because the clock hit 0:00 and the second was when the game ended, once again the clock hitting 0:00.
The Trojans got the ball to start the game. The Trojans, however, only managed 3 yards as the Cardinals forced a 3-and-out and a punt, which led to them taking over possession at their own 46 yard line.
Hoisington’s used 7 plays on its first possession and capitalized the 60-yard drive when Trenton Korf ran the ball in from 2 yards out, Taylore Morales kicked the point after and the Cardinals jumped out to a 7-0 lead.
The Trojans, however, did not lay down as their offense came to life with their second possession.
Southeast of Saline answered with a 3-play drive, which covered 75 yards in just over 2 minutes. The Trohans ran in the 2-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead with 7:01 remaining in the 1st quarter.
Hoisington, which scored on 5 of their 6 first-half possessions, answered with a 6 play drive, covering 66 yards, capitalizing when quarterback Tony Moore ran in from 43 yards out, Morales tacked on the PAT to put the Cardinals back in front 14-8.
The Trojans, who were stopped twice in the first half, their opening drive 3-and-out and one interception, answered the Hoisington score when they put together an 8-oplay drive, covering 75 yards and punctuated when Daniel Kerr connected with Nathan Friesen for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Kjerr connected with Wyatt Boyd on the 2-point conversion and the Trojans went back in front 16-14.
That was the last lead the Trojans had in the contest as Hoisington scored the next two touchdowns via a 4-play drive on the ensuing possession and a 3-play drive which was set up via a Kjerr interception.
The Cardinals scored their second touchdowns via a Mason Alderdice 4-yard run and a 1-yard dive from quarterback Moore. Morales kicked extra points after each touchdown to give Hoisington a 28-16 lead with 9:31 remaining in the opening half.
The Trojans had the ball two more times in the opening half and found the end zone each time as Kjerr and Friessen connect on a 35-yard pass with 8:42 remaining before intermission to punctuate a 4-play drive and Kjerr run it in himself from 5 yards out with 1:18 remaining before half.
The Trojans attempted 2-point conversions on each of their touchdowns, but failed on their final two of the first half as they trailed 35-28 1:18 before intermission.
The Cardinals got the ball just before intermission with 1:18 remaining, ran 3 plays and let the clock click down to intermission and led 35-28 when the teams went to the locker rooms for half time.
Hoisington got the ball to start the second half and put together an 8-play drive which was finished when Moore ran in from 3 yards out to push the Cardinal lead to 42-28.
The two teams combined for 7 drives in the 2nd half. The Trojans had one drive, after they had cut the Cardinal lead to 42-36, fail via an interception and Hoisington had the other non-scoring drive, which was the final possession of the game when the clock ran out.
Southeast of Saline used a 7 play, 69-yard drive midway through the 4th quarter, which was punctuated when Kjerr connected with Wyatt Boyd for a 37-yard touchdown pass with 4:49 remaining. The 2-point conversion failed leaving it a 49-42 Hoisington lead.
The Cardinals took over possession and ran off the remainder of the clock with 8 plays, converting a pair of 3rd attempts and finished the contest by running the victory-formation play.
The Trojans finished the season with a 10-1 record. The Cardinals advance to next Friday night’s Class 2A sub-state championship where they will play Norton, who defeated Ellsworth 14-0.
