LARNED — The Holcomb High School Longhorns left no doubt that they are the team to beat in the Class 4A Division-II district Friday evening as they smashed the Larned Indians 40-7.
It is hard to call any one play a turning point in a 40-7 game, but there might have been one early in this contest.
The Larned defense held Holcomb after they received the opening kickoff, forcing the Longhorns to punt with 9:35 left in the opening quarter.
Larned fumbled the punt and Holcomb recovered on the Indians 29-yard line. Two plays later,  quarterback Trey Teeter hit Braden Showalter with a 29-yard touchdown and Holcomb took control of the game.
With the Indians offense stymied by the quick Holcomb defense, Holcomb was soon on the move again.
Following three pass completions by Teeter, the Longhorns were knocking on the Indians door once again and Teeter took a keeper in for the touchdown from the 4-yard line.
A two-point conversion pass to Brandon Stegman was good and Holcomb had a 15-0 lead.
Following a couple of penalties, the Larned offense again stalled and were forced to punt.
Following a short kick, the Longhorns moved to the 17-yard line behind the power running of backs Blake Richmeier and Dillon Williams.
The drive stalled and Teeter connected on a 30-yard field goal and an 18-0 lead.
Following the ensuing kickoff, two big plays by Larned quarterback Evan Skelton led to the Indians’ only score.
The first was a 29-yard run by Skelton on third down which moved the ball to Holcomb’s 46-yard line.
Two plays later, Skelton hit Mason Schartz for a 46-yard touchdown. The extra-point kick was good by David Valadez and the Indians trailed 18-7 at halftime.
Behind the punishing running of Richmeier and Williams, the Longhorns dominated the time of possession and the scoreboard in the second half.
With 2:25 left in the third quarter, Williams  pounded up the middle for a 9-yard touchdown and Richmeier also scored early in the fourth quarter.
The Larned offense could not get untracked due to penalties and mistakes and the quick aggressive play of the Holcomb defense.  
The Indians were held to 59 yards rushing and only 56 yards passing in the game. They fumbled three times and lost one and had two interceptions.
Holcomb, behind 111 yards rushing by Richmeier and 76 from Williams, totaled 218 yards running the ball on 47 carries.
Teeter was successful on 12 out of 16 passes for 140 yards.
Holcomb improved their record to 6-1, 1-0 in district play.
They will play the Pratt Greenbacks next week.  
Larned falls to 4-3, 0-1 in district play and will travel to Hugoton next Friday.