The Indian football team came into Week 3’s game on Sept. 18 with a 2-0 record to host Liberal on Senior Night.

The seniors stepped up in a big way – from Trey Adams and Gaven Haselhorst creating havoc as defensive ends to Kyler Beckman and Tucker Veach playing on different sides of the ball. Senior Dalyn Schwarz made plays in his first year of high school football, and senior Bill Scott intercepted a pass to stop Liberal before the end of the first half.

The Indians scored a touchdown with ease on their first drive, but on their second drive, the team pushed the ball to the Redskins’ 10-yard line but turned the ball over on downs. Liberal and Hays traded drives that would get near the red zones, but both teams never found a way to score.

On the next drive for the Indians, junior Roy Moroni pulled his hamstring, forcing head coach Tony Crough to move junior quarterback Dylan Dreiling to running back and junior wide receiver Jordan Dale to quarterback. It worked in the Indians favor, as Dreiling ran the ball in for an Indian touchdown in the same drive.

The Redskins then made the Indian defense work on the next drive, and they scored a touchdown later to make the score 14-7 in favor of the Indians.

On the Redskins’ next drive, they were in a third and 29 situation, but junior Dalton Dale intercepted the pass to give the Indians the ball at the Redskins’ 22-yard line. During that drive, Jordan Dale would find the end zone to push the score 21-7, and Scott crushed the Redskins’ hopes of scoring before the end of the first half when he picked off Liberal’s pass at the Indian two-yard line.

At the start of the third quarter, senior Jaylin Staten of Liberal would make a statement, running a punt return 82 yards, but on the next play, Hays junior Gavin Nutting recovered a fumble. Liberal and Hays would trade scoreless drives until Dreiling punched the ball in with less than two minutes to go in the third quarter.

In the final quarter, Liberal put one more touchdown on the board to make the score 27-14 in the final seconds.

The Indians defeated the Redskins to move to 3-0. The next game for the Indians is on the road in Garden City on Sept. 25.
                                                                                                                                                                      21csanders@usd489.com