Check out video of Boys Town's Class C-1 playoff win over Ashland-Greenwood:

For the second time in six days, Class C-1 No. 1 Boys Town looked like anything but a state championship contender for 24 minutes of football.

But for the second time in that same span, a dominant second half wiped all of that away.

The top-ranked Cowboys scored 28 unanswered points after the break Wednesday to run away from Ashland-Greenwood 42-21 in the second round of the Class C-1 playoffs at the Corral. After outscoring Fort Calhoun 34-0 after halftime in the first round last Thursday, Boys Town trailed for the first time this year going into the break against the Bluejays.

“This is the playoffs,” Boys Town coach Kevin Kush said. “Every team that's in it deserves to be here. You're going to have some close games. If you think you're just going to walk through it, you're crazy.”

It didn't look early on as if the Cowboys would have much of a problem after Kevin Barrett returned the opening kickoff 82 yards to the Ashland 13. Nehemiah Wilkins scored three plays later to give Boys Town an early lead.

But Ashland-Greenwood evened the game after a Cowboy punt on third down went only six yards to set up the Bluejays at the Boys Town 20. Quarterback Conor Sapp rolled right and found Reid Beranek on the first play of the possession for a touchdown.

Boys Town answered early in the second quarter when Barrett went in from 1 yard out to cap a six-play drive (all rushes). Barrett hit running back Devin Winston out of the backfield for the two-point conversion as the Cowboys went up 14-6.

Still, the Bluejays didn't fold. A 26-yard field goal by Keith Stille finished off an 11-play, 4 1/2-minute drive on the ensuing possession, before the Ashland-Greenwood defense held Boys Town to a three-and-out. A rugby-style punt - which had netted a total of 29 yards on the previous two attempts - was blocked and recovered by Spencer Mumma deep in Boys Town territory.

After two incompletions, Sapp hooked up with Josh Hohensee on 10-yard touchdown that put the Bluejays up 15-14 at the break.

“They had never been in a position this year like that,” Bluejay coach Ryan Thompson said. “We threw some adversity at them, and in the first half they didn't know how to respond to that.”

But it was all Cowboys from that point on. After a sack on third down ended Ashland's opening possession, Boys Town marched 45 yards on nine plays, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run from Kevin Humphrey. A 39-yard touchdown pass from Barrett to Wilkins and a 40-yard touchdown scamper by Winston pushed the lead to 42-15 before Ashland scored on the final play of the game.

“For these past two weeks it just took us a while to get focused,” Barrett said. “We can't come out like that anymore.”

After throwing the ball 12 times in the first half, the Cowboys kept it on the ground for much of the final two quarters. Boys Town rushed for 205 yards after the break. Barrett finished with 163 yards and two touchdowns on his 19 carries. Winston added 121 yards and a score on 11 attempts. The two combined for 177 yards in the final 24 minutes.

Ashland managed just 144 yards of total offense, including only 50 after halftime. Sapp led the way offensively, going 11 of 25 through the air for 136 yards and two scores. But the junior was sacked five times and hurried for much of the second half. He went just 2 of 9 after the break.

“We didn't hit the panic button at all,” Kush said. “It's definitely a good feeling knowing you've had some adversity and you were behind and that we didn't panic at all.”

Ashland-Greenwood (7-3) 690 6—21

At Boys Town (10-0) 68820—42

BT: Nehemiah Wilkins 4 score (kick failed)

AG: Reid Beranek 20 pass from Conor Sapp (kick failed).

BT: Kevin Barrett 1 run (Devin Winston pass from Barett).

AG: Keith Stille 26 FG.

AG: Josh Hohensee 10 pass from Sapp (pass failed).

BT: Barrett 11 run (Wilkins pass from Barrett).

BT: Kevin Humphrey 2 run (Roberto Zamora kick).

BT: Jahrod Phillips 39 pass from Barrett (Zamora kick).

BT: Devin Winston 40 run (kick failed)

BT: Spencer Mumma 15 pass from Eric Richards (end of regulation).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: A-G, Conor Sapp 8-minus 44, Shane Meyers 9-32, Josh Hohensee 2-7, Spencer Mumma 2-minus 2 Total 21-minus 7; BT, Kevin Humphrey 12-58, Nehemiah Wilkins 3-2, Kevin Barrett 19-163, Devin Winston 11-121, Trent Wallace 4-1 Total 52-345.

PASSING: A-G, Sapp 11-25-0 136, Eric Richards 1-2-0 15; BT, Barrett 5-15-1 62.

RECEIVING: A-G, Reid Beranek 3-79, Hohensee 2-21, Austin Allington 1-11, Spencer Mumma 4-33, Meyers 2-7; BT, Jahrod Phillips 2-37, Wilkins 2-10, Humphrey 1-15.

Contact the writer:

850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com

« High Schools

Share