LARNED — Larned High School tailback Landon Erway took off on a 71-yard touchdown sprint on the first play from scrimmage on Friday night.
That set the tone for the rest of the game as the Indians skewered Ellinwood 60-0.
“He’s known all week that he was going to get called upon first, and he was very excited about it,” Larned head coach A.B. Stokes said of Erway. “He said, ‘Coach, I’m not going to let you down.’
“I think if you looked in his eyes all day, he was one of the more focused kids on the team. We saw a lot of focus out of all of our kids, but I knew he was going to make a big play, whether it be a touchdown or a first down.”
Erway recorded 116 rushing yards and a pair of scores, leading the Indians rushing attack that had 364 rushing yards and eight of its nine scores in the game.
Ellinwood’s first possession ended when Jeromy Bartz, who returned an interception for a 25-yard touchdown in the second half, recovered a fumbled snap.
That was one of seven Ellinwood turnovers in the game — four interceptions and three fumbles.
“We just played awful,” Ellinwood head coach Dusty Beam said. “There were too many little things, too many big mistakes. We just played awful football tonight.”
Larned returned four turnovers for touchdowns only to see two called back due to penalties and one due to an inadvertent whistle.
“We want our guys to play aggressive football, and sometimes when you’re playing aggressively, you’re going to have things happen,” Stokes said. “Like I said, I’m just glad we were on the winning side of it.
“We will look at the film and make adjustments, but I do want our kids to play aggressively. I don’t want to teach them to not look for someone to get a hand on.”
Indians quarterback Easton Palmer rushed for 69 yards and completed 4 of 5 passes for 84 yards. He rushed for a pair of touchdowns.
“We’ve got other guys,” Stokes said. “You’ll probably notice as the year goes on. There might be a different guy every game. We’re really confident in our guys at skill positions. They’ve invested into two summers now. They’re strong. They’re fast and becoming more and more physical every week.”
Palmer threw one interception with Ellinwood’s Tanner Swank coming down with a jump ball in the end zone.
Brayden Smith was targeted twice for a team-leading 52 yards, and Isiah Perez reeled in a trio of passes for 50 yards.
Eagles quarterback Kaleb Schartz rushed for a team-leading 54 yards as Ellinwood managed 127 yards of total offense..

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Mid-Central Activities Association

Friday

At Larned

Larned 60, Ellinwood 0
Ellinwood     0     0     0     0  —   0
Larned        26    0    27    7  —  60

SCORING SUMAMRY
First Quarter
Larned — Landon Erway 71 run (Michael Reece kick), 11:38.
Larned — Easton Palmer 6 run (kick failed), 8:44.
Larned — Jamil Shoemaker 35 run (kick failed), 5:53.
Larned — Palmer 26 run (Reece kick), :00.
Second Quarter
No scoring
Third Quarter
Larned — Shoemaker 2 run (Reece kick), 11:07.
Larned — Erway 18 run (Reece kick), 7:01.
Larned — Gage Stude 3 run (Reece kick), 2:37.
Larned — Jeromy Bartz 25 interception return (kick failed), 1:16.
Fourth Quarter
Larned — Evan Skelton 68 run (Reece kick), 4:37.