HOISINGTON — The Hoisington High School football team had its season end at the hands of Ellsworth for the second straight year on Thursday night.
The Bearcats jumped to a 14-0 lead, but the Cardinals came crashing back to narrow the lead to 14-12 at halftime.
However, Ellsworth scored a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in the second half, and Hoisington never recovered, finishing the Class 3A District 13 matchup with a 34-18 loss.
“They scored an 80-some-yard touchdown on a run and we just couldn’t catch up,” Hoisington head coach Jason Ingram said.
The loss reminded some of the Hoisington seniors of last year’s 30-12 loss in Ellsworth that ended the Cardinals’ chances at the 3A playoffs, according to Ingram.
“I can’t really talk about last year because I wasn’t here, but I think some of the seniors were remembering what happened,” Ingram said. “The players took it pretty hard. They have pride in everything that they do, and of course they’ll take the loss hard. Each one of these seniors played hard this season. They had a good season. Hopefully the young guys can come back next year, and get us into the playoffs.”
Hagan Hanzlick rushed for 172 yards and a touchdown to lead the Cardinals (5-4 overall, 1-2 district).

Central Plains 54,
Solomon 6
SOLOMON — Central Plains routed Solomon to close district play.
Running back Benn Kirmer, who played limited time because the Oilers had already secured an Eight-Man Division-I District 8 title, scored three rushing touchdowns in the win.
Central Plains (8-1, 6-0) scored first, but Solomon tied the game up at 6-6. Central Plains’ defense sealed shut to prevent Solomon from scoring again.
The Oilers host Quinter on Tuesday night at 7.

Macksville 48,
Pratt-Skyline 32
PRATT — Macksville quarterback Seth Filbert stepped up in his final regular-season game, rushing for three touchdowns and throwing four touchdowns.
Macksville, which won the Eight-Man D-I District 5 title, hosts Ness City at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Two of Filbert’s aerials went to Tanner Tranbarger and another pair went to his brother, Taylor Tranbarger, for the Mustangs (9-0 overall).
Pratt-Skyline began with a 16-0 lead after a pair of quick scores, but Macksville (9-0, 6-0) shut them down, keeping the Thunderbirds out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.

Otis-Bison 66,
Frankfort 20
SALINA — Otis-Bison advanced to the Eight-Man Division II state playoffs with a rout of Frankfort.
Running back Patrick Piper rushed for a team-leading three touchdowns.
The Cougars (8-1, 4-0) will host Moscow on Tuesday night at 6 after winning the District 5 title.

St. John 64,
Kiowa County 14
GREESNBURG — St. John senior running back Patrick Prescott rushed for 302 yards in his team’s final game.
He finished the game with seven scores for the Tigers (6-3, 4-2).
Quarterback Kinser Crissman threw a pair of touchdown strikes to Zuriel Reyes, the first for 34 yards and the second for 10 yards.

Holcomb 41, Larned 6
HOLCOMB — Larned concluded its season with a road loss to Holcomb.
Indians quarterback Easton Palmer completed an 11-yard pass to Brendon Lewis for Larned’s only touchdown of the game.
Palmer completed 18 of 37 passes for 182 yards. He threw a pair of interceptions.
He finished the season with 1,076 passing yards for Larned (0-9, 0-3).