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First half pushes Indians to victory
spt jf Larned tackle
Wes Davis knocks the ball loose from running back Aric Propst to turn the ball over to the Indians. - photo by COURTESY PHOTO Janet Fleske

HALSTEAD — The Larned Indians raced to a 21-6 halftime lead before holding off Halstead 35-26 in Friday’s Central Kansas League football game.
Larned posted 24 first downs to dominate time of possession. The Indians rushed for 262 yards led by Anthony McConnell with 204 yards. Wes Davis added 40 yards. Quarterback Carson Smith completed four passes for 74 yards to Damontay Phillips.
Larned (2-2, 2-2 CKL) plays at Nickerson (3-1, 3-1 CKL) next week.
Halstead outscored the Indians 20-0 in the fourth period, keyed by two onside kickoff recoveries.
“Hey, we dominated the game up until that point, but they grabbed a little momentum from those two onside recoveries,” said Larned coach A.B. Stokes. “I knew if we could get the ball back in our offense’s hands we could put it away, which we did.”
Halstead had 17 first downs in the game with 195 yards rushing and six completions by Dalton Kraus for 94 yards. Kraus added 56 yards rushing for Halstead (1-3, 1-3 CKL).
Larned controlled the time of possession in the first half 19 minutes to just five minutes for Halstead.
The Indians mounted a six-minute drive culminated by McConnell’s 8-yard touchdown run with 5:34 remaining in the first stanza.
After a three-and-out, McConnell dashed 27 yards and Phillips caught a 23-yard pass, McConnell scored on a 4-yard TD with 10:03 left before halftime. Logan DeMond’s extra-pint kick made it 14-0.
Halstead converted a fake punt that succeeded for 30 yards. Aric Propst rambled 18 yards for a score. The Dragons two-point conversion failed.
Halstead tried the first of four onside kicks, but Larned recovered and converted for a 21-6 halftime lead. Two big carries by McConnell and a pass to Phillips put the ball on the 1-yard line with seven seconds left.
Quarterback Smith barely made it into the end zone on the last play of the first half.
Larned came out breathing fire in the third quarter. Shevin Martin sped around end from 4 yards with 5:35 left in the third period for a 28-6 lead.
Smith completed a 27-yard TD strike to wide receiver Phillips for a touchdown and a seemingly untouchable 35-7 lead.
Halstead, aided by pass interference in the end zone scored when Propst rambled 16 yards. Halstead executed the first of two successful onside kicks. Kraus scored on a 1-yard run with 5:30 left for a 35-20 score after Kraus’ conversion.
The second onside recovery led to 10-yard pass from Kraus to Scott Grider with 3:09 left. Larned recovered the ensuing onside kick and finished the drive at the Halstead 4-yard line.

INDIANS 35, DRAGONS 26
L 21 0 14 0 – 35
H 6 6 0 20 – 26
L—Anthony McConnell 8 run (Logan DeMond kick); L—McConnell 4 run (DeMond kick); H—Aric Propst 18 run (run failed); L—Carson Smith 1 run (DeMond kick); L—Shevin Martin 4 run (DeMond kick); L—Damontay Phillips 27 pass from Smith (DeMond kick); H—Prpost 16 run (run failed); H—Dalton Kraus 1 run (KRaus run); H—Scott Grider 10 pass from Kraus (run failed)
RUSHING—L—McConnell 32-204; Davis 6-40; Martin 2-4; Smith 7-3; Phillips 1-2.
PASSING—L—Smith 4-6-0, 74; Phillips 0-1-0.
RECEIVING—L—Phillips 4-74.