ST. JOHN — A second-half surge in the St. John-Hudson High School ground game led to a football season-opening win, 64-44 over Otis-Bison.
Tigers senior tailback Schuyler Brown led the charge with 202 yards and five touchdowns.
“Brown has really come a long way even from last year,” St. John first-year head coach Chris Story said. “He has really evolved over the last year. He has found a lot of ways of getting away from defenders. He’s just a powerhouse kid.”
It was St. John quarterback Preston Miller that got things started with a 1-yard dive into the endzone.
Miller also scored after connecting with wide receiver Preston Nemec, who had 109 receiving yards in the game, for a 50-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter.
Miller completed 9 of 21 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
However, Cougars quarterback Kole Urban kept Otis-Bison close with a 14-yard sprint and a 79-yard kickoff return for scores.
Dean Wade, who finished with 67 yards, reeled in a 7-yard TD pass from Miller and Brown scored on a 3-yard burst to put the Tigers ahead 28-12 with 9:16 remaining in the half.
Urban responded with a pair of rushing TDs to knot the score at 28 at halftime.
“We got some game reps in, that was the important thing,” Otis-Bison head coach Travis Starr said. “We had a terrible first half, but we went into halftime tied up. You couldn’t ask for anything better than that.
“(Kole) had some great plays and he had some bad plays. We just need to get more consistent in everything that we do, and who knows what the team can do?”
Urban, who completed 6 of 12 passes for 81 yards and one TD, also led the defense with a pair of interceptions at safety.
Brown became the workhorse for the Tigers in the second half, scoring four touchdowns.
Defensive lineman Logan Behr accounted for the only other St. John score in the second half, a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Urban, who rushed for 168 yards and four scores in the game, threw for a score and had a second kick return for a touchdown, a 76-yard sprint in the second half.
St. John tailback Juan Neri-Leon was injured during a run in the first quarter. He suffered a seizure, and was taken away by ambulance to a nearby hospital. He was diagnosed with a severe concussion and released in time to return to the sidelines for the final minutes of the game.
“He came back and it looks like he had a pretty severe concussion,” Story said. “Overall, they’re not too sure what caused the seizure. Hopefully, we can find out a little more about what caused that.”

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Central Prairie League

Friday

At St. John

St. John-Hudson 64, Otis-Bison 44
Otis-Bison    12    16      8     8   —  44
St. John        16    12    20    16  —  64

SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
St. John — Preston Miller 1 run (Schuyler Brown run), 7:10.
Otis-Bison — Kole Urban 14 run (run failed), 1:29.
St. John — Preston Nemec 50 pass from Miller (Brown run), 1:04.
Otis-Bison — Urban 79 kick return (run failed), :50.
Second Quarter
St. John — Wade 7 pass from Miller (run failed), 11:30.
St. John — Brown 3 run (run failed), 9:16.
Otis-Bison — Urban 24 run (Urban run), 7:40.
Otis-Bison — Urban 2 run (Brad Lightfoot pass from Urban), 1:49.
Third Quarter
St. John — Brown 23 run (Brown run), 9:18.
St. John — Brown 7 run (run failed), 8:46.
St. John — Logan Behr 40 interception (run failed), 2:13.
Otis-Bison — DeJay Vaughn 5 pass from Urban (Urban run), :00.
Fourth Quarter
St. John — Brown 20 run (Trace Shultz run), 9:05.
Otis-Bison — Urban 76 kick return (Urban run), 8:51.
St. John — Brown 32 run (Miller run), 5:56.