Peabody-Burns, Canton-Galva tune up for district showdown

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN
Peabody-Burns (7-1)

The Warriors beat a solid Moundridge team, 34-14, at Peabody Friday to qualify for the next round of playoffs and set themselves up for a possible district championship.

Nolan Hurst of Peabody-Burns picked up 158 yards rushing and teammate Kurt Phillips added 145 yards to fuel the Warriors’ attack.

No other information about the game was made available.

The Warriors will square off against Canton-Galva (5-3) at Canton Friday night to decide the district title and the higher seed in Tuesday’s regional games.

Canton-Galva (5-3)

The Eagles rolled to a 26-3 third-quarter lead, then fought off a late Sedgwick rally to beat the Cardinals 26-16 Friday in Canton.

Canton-Galva quarterback Travis Regehr started the Eagles off with a 1-yard scoring run. Scott Jowers’ carried the ball for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 first-quarter lead.

In the second quarter, Regehr connected with DaWayne Stoss for an 18-yard scoring pass; the 2-point conversion run failed.

Canton-Galva scored again before halftime when Regehr hooked up with Ryan Schmidt for a 61-yard touchdown pass. The 2-point conversion failed again, but the Eagles were up 20-0 at halftime.

After Sedgwick got on the board with a 32-yard field goal, the Eagles rounded out their scoring with a 5-yard scoring pass from Regehr to Shelby Hoopes in the third period. The 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete, but the Eagles led by their biggest margin, 26-3.

The Cardinals scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the final period, but the Eagles closed the door for the win.

Canton-Galva will play host to Peabody-Burns (7-1) Friday at 7 p.m. Both teams have qualified for a berth in regional play on Tuesday. The winner of this game will win the district title and claim the higher seed.

Centre (6-2)

The Cougars came back from a 20-point halftime deficit to pull to within two points in the fourth quarter-but couldn’t close the deal in a wild 48-44 non-district road loss to Quivira Heights Friday.

The Thunderbirds (6-2) from the Central Plains League pulled ahead 28-8 with 4:19 left in the first half and still led by 20, 34-14 at intermission.

But the Cougars scored two third-quarter touchdowns and one with 9:40 left in the final period to pull within two points, 40-38 with 9:40 to play.

Centre’s first score came on a 1-yard run by quarterback Curtis Gutsch, the second on a 70-yard kickoff return by Todd Stahlecker after a Thunderbird score, and the third on a 15-yard pass from Gutsch to Eric Peterson.

Centre converted all three 2-point conversions-two on runs by Mark Pagenkopf and the other on a Gutsch pass to Stahlecker.

When Quivira Heights increased their lead to 48-38 with 6:21 to play, Centre came right back 20 seconds later on a 56-yard pass from Gutsch to Stahlecker for what turned out to be the final points of the game.

Surprisingly, given the offensive production in this game, neither team could score in the final six minutes.

Gutsch finished with 233 yards through the air, completing 13 of 25 attempts. Stahlecker caught six of those passes for 131 yards.

Kyle Luna was the team’s leading rusher with 57 yards on 15 carries, and Pagenkopf added 54 yards on 13 carries to boost the team’s rushing total to 139 yards.

The Cougars (6-2) will finish their regular-season schedule with a district game Thursday at perennial power Little River (5-1). The winner will qualify for regional play on Tuesday.

The game is set to start at 7 p.m.

Goessel (4-4)

The Bluebirds gave up 40 points in the second quarter on the way to a 68-20 blowout at the hands of Little River in a district game at Goessel Friday.

The Redskins (5-1) were up 48-0 in the second quarter before Goessel finally got on the scoreboard. Tyler Huntley scored the touchdown on a 35-yard pass from quarterback Ben Schmidt.

Goessel scored twice more in the second half.

Dylan Buller ran in from 13 yards in the third quarter, and Schmidt threw to Aaron Stehman for the 2-point conversion. Nicholas Peters then scored in the final period on a 72-yard pass from Kyle Unruh.

Little River, a perennial 8-man power from the Heart of America League, rolled up 325 yards on the ground and 131 yards through the air.

Goessel managed 130 yards passing, completing four of 12 attempts, and 86 yards on the ground on 26 carries.

With an 0-2 record in district play, the Bluebirds will finish their season Thursday with a game against White City (5-3) of the Eisenhower League. Game time is 7 p.m.

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