BLHS topped the Chieftains, 28-7, in the regular season finale for both teams Friday in Basehor. The Bobcats (7-2, 2-1 district) clinched the runner-up in Class 4A-I district 1 under first-year head coach Rod Stallbaumer, earning a spot in the playoffs. Junior fullback Austin Ettinger, who played at Tonganoxie as a freshman, had a field day against his former team, rushing for 207 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown run that helped BLHS re-take the lead in the second half.

Before going into halftime tied at seven, the Bobcats committed three turnovers, and coach Rod Stallbaumer knew those mistakes needed to be nullified in the second half.

“We had to quit beating ourselves,” Stallbaumer said. “Once we cleaned that stuff up, I knew we would be successful.”

Tonganoxie (2-7, 1-2) failed to capitalize on two scoring opportunities in the first half. The Chieftains drove inside the BLHS 5-yard line on the opening possession, but the Bobcats stopped Kyle Fain on fourth-and-short at the 3. BLHS also turned the ball over on fourth down on the ensuing drive.

Bobcat quarterback Justin Phillips opened scoring when he found Patrick Muldoon on a fade route early in the second quarter. The Chieftains looked to answer on their next possession when a long pass from Carl Hecht to Kyle Burge gave them another scoring chance, but the drive stalled and BLHS blocked Kendall Parsons’ 24-yard field goal attempt.

Jared Sommers, who missed most of the Chieftains’ previous game with a hip injury, finally got THS on the board with a 10-yard run with 3:59 left in the half. Neither team scored again before the break.

Basehor-Linwood outscored its rival 21-0 in the second half. The defense delivered a shutout against Tonganoxie’s offense in the second half to help lift the team to victory.

“It allowed our offense to function properly with no stress at all and we put more points on the scoreboard,” said Phillips, who was 6-of-10 passing for 69 yards and a touchdown in addition to running for 39 yards and a score.

Ettinger put BLHS in front for good midway through the third quarter, then Phillips made it a two-possession game with a one-yard plunge in the fourth. Eric Scott, who set up the Bobcats’ first score with a long punt return, provided the final points on a four-yard run with 4:26 to go.

Basehor-Linwood will square off against the district 2 champion Bishop Miege Stags in the first round of the playoffs Friday at Dixon Doll Stadium, and the mindset for the Bobcats is already on next week. Miege capped off a 9-0 regular season last week with a 51-12 win against Sumner Academy.

“We will need to continue to improve with a tough game against Bishop Miege this week,” Stallbaumer said. “When you get to the playoffs, everyone is good, and Miege is one of the best teams in the state of Kansas, regardless of classification. We are excited for the challenge.”

As for Tonganoxie, it will miss the playoffs after winning its district during coach Al Troyer’s first two years under the helm. With Troyer’s third season now in the books, he is excited to see what the future brings with plenty of returning starters.

At the same time, the team will miss running back Jared Sommers, who rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown in his final high school football game.

“You can’t ask for a kid with more heart than Jared Sommers,” Troyer said. “He came into our Wildcat package and we wanted to run him and he did a great job.”

Sommers was one of 10 seniors to play his last game in a THS uniform Friday. Others were Hecht, Parsons, Milton Ulreich, Tyler Warthen, Greg DeVeau, Ben Clark, Ray Muñoz, Justyn Leslie and Tyler Fraedrich.

— Justin Nutter contributed to this story.

Score by quarters

THS 0 7 0 0 — 7

BLHS 0 7 7 14 — 28

Second quarter

BLHS — Patrick Muldoon 2 pass from Justin Phillips (Parker Rusk kick), 8:27

THS — Jared Sommers 10 run (Kendall Parsons kick), 3:59

Third quarter

BLHS — Austin Ettinger 12 run (Rusk kick), 7:23

Fourth quarter

BLHS — Phillips 1 run (Rusk kick), 8:44

BLHS — Eric Scott 4 run (Rusk kick), 4:26