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Chieftains look to districts after lopsided loss

By Justin Nutter - | Oct 14, 2014

Justin Nutter

Ryan Musick and the Tonganoxie High football team will try to rebound from last week’s 48-0 loss at Bonner Springs when it opens district play against Atchison on Friday.

? Perhaps the steady rain that fell Friday at David Jaynes Stadium inspired the postgame words by Tonganoxie coach Al Troyer: Wash it off and move on to next week.

That’s exactly what the Chieftains plan to do after their final game before district play — a 48-0 loss to Class 5A Bonner Springs. THS struggled against the Braves’ balanced offensive attack from the get-go, allowing more than 400 yards in the first half alone.

“Bonner is a good football team and we just couldn’t match the speed,” Troyer said. “We didn’t even watch the film. We went straight into Atchison, so that’s where we’re starting. We’re at phase two. Everybody is 0-0.”

Bonner Springs running back Marcell Holmes scored on runs of 9, 81, 3 and 1 yards in the opening half, in which the Braves (5-1, 4-0 Kaw Valley League) built a 41-0 lead. Meanwhile, the Chieftains (1-5, 1-3) struggled on offense for the majority of the night.

BSHS scored on all four of its first-quarter possessions to take a 28-0 lead. Holmes opened scoring just 1:30 into the game, then quarterback Connor Byers hit Jonah Freese on a 70-yard bomb on the next drive. Holmes ripped off an 81-yard scoring run with 5:05 to go, and Byers hooked up with Thaddeus Glenn from 20 yards out in the final minute of the quarter.

Tonganoxie drove inside the Bonner Springs 30-yard line on its first possession of the game, but turned the ball over on downs. The Chieftains went three-and-out on their next four drives.

Holmes added two more rushing touchdowns in the second quarter. THS crossed midfield again on its final drive of the half, but the Brave defense came up with another stop on fourth down.

Holmes, who finished with 231 yards on 27 carries, scored his fifth and final touchdown on a 17-yard run with 10:03 to go in the third quarter, and a running clock went into effect. THS had several chances to get on the scoreboard late in the game, but couldn’t overcome three second-half turnovers. The Chieftains got one more chance to score when they drove deep into Brave territory on the game’s final drive, but they couldn’t punch it in before the clock hit zero.

Byers was nearly flawless in the passing game for BSHS, going 11-of-14 for 223 yards. Freese hauled in three catches for a team-high 143 yards. Meanwhile, Tonganoxie managed just 145 yards of offense in the loss. Quarterback Carl Hecht threw for 97 yards, but was just 15-of-30 with two interceptions. As a team, the Chieftains had just 48 rushing yards on 18 carries.

Troyer’s squad will welcome Atchison to Beatty Field for its Class 4A-I district 1 opener at 7 p.m. Friday. AHS enters the contest with an unblemished 6-0 record. It remained undefeated last week with a 15-12 win at Wyandotte.

“They’ve got (Wykeen) Gill at quarterback, who’s all over the place,” Troyer said. “Being 6-0, they’re going to come in with some confidence. We’re just building off what we’ve done in the past. These seniors have been in this position before, so we’ll try to build on that.”

The game will be the final regular season home contests for the team’s seniors, who will be recognized in a pregame ceremony. Six of those seniors — Hecht, Jared Sommers, Ray Muñoz, Justyn Leslie, Greg DeVeau and Ben Clark — played a significant role last season, in which the Chieftains went 9-2 and won their second consecutive district title.

“You look at their maturity over the last three years, and all six of them have played a part last year and this year both,” Troyer said. “They’ve definitely contributed and they’ve seen what it takes to rise to the next level.”

THS is 2-1 against Atchison in the last two seasons, including a 41-14 win last year.

Basehor-Linwood will host Piper in Friday’s other district game.

Score by quarters

THS 0 0 0 0 — 0

BSHS 28 13 7 0 — 48

First quarter

BSHS — Marcell Holmes 9 run (Thaddeus Glenn kick), 10:30

BSHS — Jonah Freese 70 pass from Connor Byers (Glenn kick), 7:07

BSHS — Holmes 81 run (Glenn kick), 5:05

BSHS — Glenn 20 pass from Byers (Glenn kick), :48

Second quarter

BSHS — Holmes 3 run (Glenn kick), 7:03

BSHS — Holmes 1 run (kick failed), 2:11

Third quarter

BSHS — Holmes 17 run (Glenn kick), 10:03

Rushing

THS: Zac Morgan 3-18, Ryan Musick 5-14, Jared Sommers 2-9, Carl Hecht 8-7; BSHS: Marcell Holmes 27-231, Bryant Stimac 3-33, Blake McMahan 1-(-2), Connor Byers 2-(-5).

Passing

THS: Carl Hecht 15-30-2 97; BSHS: Connor Byers 11-14-0 223.

Receiving

THS: Kyle Burge 4-30, Jared Sommers 4-24, Zac Morgan 3-16, Greg DeVeau 1-14, Heath Martin 1-13, Ryan Musick 1-0, Conner Brown 1-0; BSHS: Thaddeus Glenn 4-63, Jonah Freese 3-143, Marcell Holmes 2-10, Charlie Gray 1-5, Hayden Hoffine 1-2.