Ashland tops Hill City in defensive battle

Ashland 36, Hill City 30
    The Ashland Bluejays faced a defensive battle against the Hill City Ringnecks and came away with a 36-30 win at a neutral site in Jetmore, halfway between the two schools.
    Ashland running back Bobby Krahn was responsible for four of the Bluejays'  six touchdowns, starting with a 15-yard run for six points with 3:03 left in the first quarter. Later in the game, Krahn scored again on a 20-yard run, a 7-yard pass from junior Corey Stebens and a 1-yard run with 1:31 left on the clock in the fourth quarter.
    Running back Ervin Swonger scored two touchdowns for the Bluejays, with the first coming off a 63-yard kickoff return. Swonger's second touchdown came off a 9-yard pass from Stebens, who had 152 passing yards for the night.
    Ringnecks quarterback Reggie Jordan scored four touchdowns, starting with a 24-yard run in the first quarter. He later scored on runs of 5, 38 and 13 yards, respectively.
    Jordan was injured and left the game late in the fourth quarter. His replacement, quarterback Justin Helberg, scored the team's fifth and final touchdown on a 1-yard run with 2:35 left in the game.
    On defense, Ashland's Kirk Woodruff led the team in quarterback sacks with five sacks for a total of 21 1/2 yards. Left end Sean LaBelle contributed two sacks for a total of 7 yards, and linebacker Andrew Reimer added two sacks for 9 1/2 yards.
   
Jetmore 22, Minneola 14
    The Jetmore Longhorns opened their season with a 22-14 road win over the Minneola Wildcats.
    The Wildcats racked up the first touchdown with a 15-yard run by Kameron Ptacek with 11:01 left in the second quarter, followed by a successful two-point conversion.
    Nearly three minutes later, the Longhorns replied with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Lucian Bradshaw to Patrick Meyer. The Longhorns also had a successful two-point conversion, tying the score at 8 points apiece.
    The Wildcats' Clinton Schriner came back with a 2-yard run and another touchdown with 4:09 left in the second quarter, putting the Wildcats up 14-8. Their attempt at a two-point conversion was unsuccessful.
    Jetmore did not score again until the fourth quarter, starting with Bradshaw's 8-yard run and a successful two-point conversion with 9:04 left in the game. Meyer contributed another Longhorns touchdown with a 4-yard run with 1:04 left in the game, making the score 22-14.
    Bradshaw was Jetmore's leading rusher for the night with 84 yards. Minneola's Jeremiah Nicholson put up 81 rushing yards to lead the Wildcats.
   
Pawnee Heights 58,   
Greensburg 20
    The Pawnee Heights Tigers started their home game against the Greensburg Rangers with a six-point lead and held onto it, capturing a 58-20 victory.
    The Tigers' first touchdown came in the first quarter with a 26-yard pass from Mason Salmans to Justin Skelton, making the score 6-0. Heights' attempt at a two-point conversion failed.
    Heights scored again in the second quarter with a 9-yard pass from Salmans to Nolan Drieling, followed by a successful two-point conversion off a Salmans run.
    The Rangers earned their first touchdown in the second quarter with Nathan Charleton's 3-yard run, followed by a successful pass from Shane Engleken to Grant Sirois for the two-point conversion to tie the score at 8 apiece.
    Salmans scored three more touchdowns for the Tigers and racked up 138 yards for the night. Taylor Lemuz contributed two touchdowns with runs of 10 and 13 yards, respectively, and Kevin Colglazier added a touchdown off a 3-yard fumble return.
    Salmans also picked up two points off a safety.
    Greensburg scored another touchdown off Charleton's 35-yard run, and a third touchdown came off Engleken's 24-yard run.
    The Rangers' Sirois racked up 137 rushing yards for the night.

Kinsley 15, Hays Thomas More Prep 13
    The Kinsley Coyotes tasted their first victory at home Friday against Thomas More Prep.
    Down 15-7, Thomas More Prep's Clint Taylor brought his team within two points on a 1-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion failed, and Kinsley went on to win 15-13.
    TMP led the game in the first quarter 7-0 after quarterback Sean Conway threw a 37-yard pass to Keith Gustin, placing six points on the scoreboard. The extra point good from kicker Clint Taylor was good.
    The Coyotes failed to score in the first quarter but stepped it up in the second. Jordan Ebert ran a touchdown from 25 yards out to put Kinsley on the board. TMP was unable to strike back, leaving the first half of the game tied 7-7.
    The Coyotes scored first in the third quarter as Jordan Ebert ran another touchdown from 57 yards out. Reed Strate then threw a successful pass to Ebert, good for two extra points. TMP, down eight points in the third, needed to step up its offense in the fourth quarter.
    TMP aided Kinsley with five fumbles and six penalties totaling 55 yards. TMP rushed for 97 yards to Kinsley's 317. Kinsley attempted six passes, completing three with two interceptions. TMP had four attempted passes with only one complete.

Cimarron 39, Elkhart 20
    The Cimarron Bluejays took their first win Friday night against Elkhart.
    Down 39-6 in the last quarter, Elkhart picked up the pace, scoring 14 points but still coming up short. Cimarron dominated on the field with nearly 300 rushing yards and five interceptions.
    The final score was 39-20.    
    Cimarron led the first half of the game after a 40-yard interception return and left the field at halftime up 18-6. Not much changed in the third quarter, as the Bluejays retained the lead. The score was 32-6 after three periods.
    Elkhart was unable to score again until the fourth quarter.  With Cimarron's fifth touchdown of the game, Elkhart's two scores in the last quarter weren't enough.