Record runner

Kizzar leaves behind new record

By Mike Courson

The Chase Kats football team did not make the playoffs this year, but senior running back Jake Kizzar sent the team out on a high note, rushing for a state record 613 yards in the 93-60 win at Burrton last Thursday.

“Our goal from the beginning of the year was to make the playoffs and we didn’t make the playoffs,” Kats coach Flynt Hendryx said. “We ended up with a good record, we were 6-3, but we didn’t make the playoffs. What our offensive line did for him, and what he did for our team really was kind of a healing from the depression the whole team had been suffering from for not making the playoffs. It was huge.”

Hendryx had an inkling that Kizzar was capable of big things when the pair spoke the night before the game.

“Wednesday night, he and I were talking, and just jokingly I said, ‘Why don’t you see if you can set the rushing record tomorrow night,’” said Hendryx. “He said okay, but I was very flippant in the way I said it. About midway through the third quarter of the ball game, I wasn’t even thinking about the rushing record. I was worried about winning the ball game because Burrton was playing us tough. They mentioned over the PA that he had 433 yards midway through the third quarter. I thought well, let’s do it. We’re right here on the cusp of it, let’s just go ahead and do it. The rest is history.”

Kizzar credits his offensive line with helping him break the record.

“It starts with offensive line,” Kizzar said. “They were making holes for me you could drive a semi-truck through. It was amazing. It was a pretty emotional night for all of us because it was our last football game.”

The line consisting of Josh Ray, Eric Rute, Billy Clark, Lucas Ingham, and Keith Burke knew their role after the third quarter announcement.

“I looked at my coach and we talked about it, and that got our linemen jacked up even more,” said Kizzar. “We just came together.”

Kizzar, at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds, tallied the record performance on just 32 carries to average 19.2 yards a touch on the night. He scored 10 offensive touchdowns, and added 123 kick return yards, including a 75-yard return for an 11th touchdown. His efforts break the previous record of 488 rushing yards by Claflin’s Kipp Connell in 1998. Connell also rushed for a state record 3,382 yards that season.

Limited by an injury sustained last season, Kizzar finished the 2009 campaign with 1406 yards and 25 touchdowns.

“This year, I’d been having a lot of pain my leg at the beginning of the season, then finally at the end, I started getting over it and it started getting better on its own,” said Kizzar. “They think I had a stress fracture. They told me I could play through football, and then I’m supposed to sit out a month. The last game, I couldn’t feel me leg hurting at all.”

“He hadn’t played many full games this season,” said Hendryx. “He’d been suffering from an injury from last year--he broke his leg last year. He was just still feeling some of the effects from it this year, so we only used him sparingly. For most of the season, he only played about half a game. Once some of the pain started settling in, he couldn’t do any more. Not that he didn’t want to or didn’t try, he just didn’t have the ability to. About the last three games of the season, his leg started feeling better.”

The game had meaning for the Chase seniors, who were able to walk away from prep football accomplishing something no other team had done with the record.

“It felt great,” Kizzar said. “Especially us seniors--me, Burke, and Jake Weaver who played safety--we just said it’s our last game and we just want to win. We wanted to go out with a bang, and we did.”

Kizzar, who will play for the Kats’ basketball team this winter, is leaning towards playing football at Garden City Community College.

The rushing record was in jeopardy earlier in the season when Larned senior Chase Smith rushed for a school-record 370 yards against TMP, scoring five times in the process. Smith would have neared the state record at that time, but a 74-yard run was disallowed due to a holding call.

Kizzar’s performance nearly eclipsed the scoring record as well. Haven’s Elvin McCoy scored 13 touchdowns in 1927, in a 90-point performance. Former Salina Central and current Jayhawk tailback Jake Sharp broke the season scoring record in 2005 with 380 points.