THS welcomed Hayden Catholic, a program that Tonganoxie was 0-6 against all-time and hadn’t played since 2005.

In the seventh meeting, the Chieftains made history. Tonganoxie scored 22 unanswered points in the second half and went on to win, 34-13. The victory moved THS to 1-1 on the season, while Hayden fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2016.

The Wildcats got off to a great start when Hayden scored on a punt return with 9:17 left in the first quarter. It marked the third time Tonganoxie gave up a special teams score after a blocked punt and a kickoff return for a touchdown the previous week at Louisburg.

Tonganoxie would get its offense going early in the second quarter. THS quarterback Hudson Myers found Landen Ruff for a 15-yard touchdown reception with 10:26 left before halftime and the game was tied, 6-6.

As in the first week, Tonganoxie’s defense would be its strong suit.

THS forced Hayden to punt on its next possession and the Wildcats had some special teams issues of its own. Hayden had a high snap and Tonganoxie recovered on the Hayden 10. Two plays later, Blake Riedel scored on a 2-yard touchdown run and Tonganoxie led, 12-6 with 8:52 left before intermission.

Hayden took the lead in the third quarter after starting the drive with an extremely short field. A tipped ball on a pass from Myers landed in Ryker Tetuan’s arms. Tetuan ran it back to the THS 5. Also the HHS quarterback, Tetuan then ran the ball in from the 2 following a penalty and Hayden tied the game. A Hayden penalty made for a long point-after try, but Hayden made the kick and went up, 13-12.

But Tonganoxie would trail for the last time. Kipton Harder got the THS crowd rocking with a 53-yard interception return for a touchdown with 4:18 left in the third.

Myers then found Roman Holthaus for the 2-point conversion and THS was up, 20-13.

In the fourth quarter, Holthaus scored on a 28-yard touchdown run with 8:46 left and then Harder scored on a two-yard run with 1:48 left following a Riedel 29-yard scamper.

Kicker Thaddeus Hileman had his first PAT attempt blocked and second was no good in the first half, but he connected on both in the fourth quarter.

THS coach Preston Troyer said Friday’s performance came after a strong week of practice.

“They had good energy all week and I thought they were confident going in,” Troyer said. “The defense was lights out in the Louisburg game. We needed the offense to follow suit.

“We had some help from the defense, but I thought we tightened up some mistakes and kind of found our groove (on offense).”

Tonganoxie amassed 177 yards on the ground and 141 through the air against the Wildcats.

Myers went 10-for-20 with a touchdown and two interceptions (both were tipped). His longest recaption was 35 yards.

Riedel led THS rushers with 113 yards on 22 carries. Paxton Summers had 38 yards on 12 carries and Holthaus 28 on the touchdown run. Harder also had 8 yards on three carries. Harder had 71 yards on four receptions, Ruff 40 on three and Holthaus 30 on three receptions.

Troyer said the team was able to put together a more balanced attack offensively this past week and Myers went from the shotgun instead of under center as much like in Week 1 against Louisburg.

Joel Merei led the defense with 8 tackles (2 solo). Riedel had 7 (4 solo) and Roman Brown 6 (all assisted). Others registering tackles were Summers with 5 (1 solo), Cooper DaGrava with 4 (all solo), Jack Reischman with 4 (1 solo) and Owen Robbins with 4 (all assisted).Eli Holthaus had an assisted tackle, while Ruff had a solo tackle. Marko Stephen had 2 assisted tackles for THS.

Riedel, Stephen and Roman Holthaus each had a sack on defense, while Ruff and Harder had the team’s two interceptions.

Hayden came into the season losing several players to graduation, but the Wildcats are coming off their third straight Class 3A state title appearance in a program that has enjoyed considerable success through the years, the last 20 with Bill Arnold. The longtime coach is 232-71 all-time between tenures at Scott City at Hayden. He’s 177-53 at HHS and his 2008 team won the 4A title with a 13-1 record in his second season at the school.

Hayden’f first loss of the season was at home, 22-19, against Tonganoxie’s next opponent — arch-rival Eudora.

The Cardinals are 2-0 after routing Bonner Springs, 51-7, Friday at BSHS.

The Chieftains have won eight of the last 10 meetings between the rivals, but Eudora won last year’s meeting, 21-17.

“They’re well-coached and really physical,” Troyer said.

Troyer saw Eudora up-close already after watching film from the Cardinals’ Week 1 game against Hayden.

“That’s a game we felt we should have one a year ago,” Troyer said. “We’re excited to get a chance at them again.

“It’s going to be a tough, physical game. Hopefully we can come out on the right side this time.”