The Hays High School Indian football team used a strong run defense that held Andover to a season low in rushing yards, as well as a balanced offense that combined for 400 total yards to get a 31-0 win on Friday night at Trojan Stadium in Andover.
It is now the third year in a row that the Indians won their first-round matchup in the playoffs and the fourth time in the last six years that they have done so against an Arkansas Valley Chisolm Trail League (AVCTL) team.
The game started at a slow pace, with both teams punting on their first possessions after Hays High through two straight incompletions on second and third down, and Andover went three and out on three run plays. This is when Hays High would start doing what brought them success all night, which was run long drives, as the Indians went 68 yards in five minutes on a drive that included some big plays like a 25-yard pass from senior Carter Graham to senior Jonathan Cano, and a 15-yard run by junior Holden Lind. The drive was capped off by Graham getting a one-yard quarterback sneak after a fourth down conversion on the previous play.
Andover tried building momentum, but after running back Noah Noyes got stopped up the middle on the third play of the drive, senior Wyatt Kirkpatrick emerged from the pile with the ball, and Hays High took over from the 41-yard line. The Indians had an opportunity to score, but a penalty forced them back, and the offense failed to convert on fourth down. The Trojans started to move the ball down the field, as they had a big pass play from 35 yards away, but the Indian defense ended the drive when a pass was deflected on the sixth play of the drive, and it landed right into the hands of senior Dalton Meyers, and the Hays High offense mixed up their play calling with the run in the pass very well to move 61 yards down the field, and Graham got his second one-yard rushing touchdown of the night.
The Trojans took over with 5:28 remaining in the second quarter and went three and out once again after a nine-yard loss on a run play, but they would get it back with one minute remaining until halftime after Hays High came up one yard short on a fourth down pass play. Andover just decided to run the ball two times to run the clock out, as the Indians led at the break 12-0.
Hays High got the ball to start the game, so Andover received the second half kickoff, but couldn’t make much out of it after getting a first down from a penalty and then punting after only getting two combined yards on the next three plays. The Indians then ran another long drive that had 11 plays and lasted just under six minutes. It was a bunch of short plays, and Graham got Hays High into the endzone again. This time on an eight-yard pass to Lind on the opposite side of the field after Graham rolled out to the left.
Andover ran the third and final drive of the third quarter but punted for the fourth time after they only picked up 13 yards on a pair of runs from Noyes and their quarterback Quincy Jonas. The drive was thrown off after a huge sack on Jonas by sophomore Tanner Geist, and the Trojans did not have a single positive play for the rest of the drive. After the punt, Hays High put the game away on the first play of the next drive as Lind ran up the middle and took the ball 84 yards to the house.
The offense for the Trojans had one last chance to fight back and got a two-yard run that added 15 yards to it because of a facemask penalty. But Jonas bobbled the snap on the fifth play of the drive and tried pitching it back, but it fell to the ground and junior Jaxson Chartier recovered the fumble to give the Hays High defense their third takeaway of the game.
Hays High ran another five minute drive afterwards that was capped off by Graham finding Lind on a screen pass with no one around him, and he took the pass 26 yards to the end zone for his third touchdown of the half, and it was the fourth touchdown of the game that Graham was responsible for. Andover’s final drive started with 3:56 remaining in the game, and they ran eight run plays for 60 yards, and the clock expired before they could get one more off.
Graham finished the game with a career-high 212 passing yards, as well as two touchdowns after going 19 for 27 on his throws. Both of those went to Lind, and he finished with five receptions for 47 yards. The Indians leading receiver was Cano, who caught six passes for 61 yards, and right behind him was senior Braeden Moeckel, who only caught four passes but went for 58 yards. The tight end junior Parker McGuire got three receptions for 39 yards, making it the most he has gotten in a single game. And senior Ian McGuire finished with just one reception that went for seven yards.
Andover’s Quincy Jonas only passed the ball seven times and completed five of those passes. He through for 51 yards, and his leading receiver was Zeke McCaskill who caught one pass that went for 35 yards. Ben Reynolds was the only player to get two receptions as he had just six yards on the night. The other players to catch a pass included Will Quinn who picked up seven yards, and Will Baker who went for three yards.
Hays High’s ground game had no trouble making plays in the game as three different rushers combined for 188 yards. Leading the way was Lind who ran the ball a total of 18 times for 160 yards and a touchdown. Graham found the end zone two times on run plays as he had eight carries for 19 yards, and two touchdowns. Ian McGuire rounded out the backfield with nine carries for just nine yards.
The Trojans were held to a season low 107 rush yards in the game after averaging 320.5 rush yards per game in the regular season. They were led by their 1,000-yard running back Noah Noyes who carried the ball 14 times for 50 yards, and right behind him was Pete Vega who got just two carries but picked up 26 yards. Both Quincy Jonas and Barrett Hill had 11 yards on four carries, and Will Quinn ran the ball three times for five yards on the night. Four different Andover players finished with just one carry, which included Leland Schumacher for nine yards, Zeke McCaskill for three yards, Josiah Rodriguez for just one yard and Trey Kelly who lost nine yards on a failed double reverse play.
Andover finishes their season with a record of 4-5 but has a lot to look forward to next season because they were winless a year ago, and Jamie Cruce now has a year of experience with the Trojans under his belt. Hays High moves on to 5-4 and will get a rematch with the undefeated Great Bend Panthers on Friday at 7pm at Memorial Stadium. This will be the first ever matchup between the Indians and Panthers in the postseason.
