Special to the Tribune
The Hoisington Cardinals’ stout defense shut down Larned’s running game in a 27-14 Central Kansas League football victory Friday evening.
Hoisington’s Logan Robinson led a 382-yard ground game with 218 yards rushing and 6- and 25-yard scoring runs. Tony Moore gained 76 yards rushing and caught a 53-yard touchdown.
The win helped the Cardinals to get back their “mojo” after a 68-18 loss at Pratt last week.
“We’ve got a long ways to go, but we got better,” said Hoisington coach Zach Baird. “We had better effort and physicality. We had guys step up and make plays. Defensively, we played great except for a few plays.”
The Indians gained 54 yards rushing that featured a 64-yard touchdown by Logan Erway. Remove those 64 yards and Larned had a minus 10 yards.
Larned coach Tad Remy said, in post-game remarks, “We were trying to set up our running game with our passing attack but we were missing open opportunities. We had our opportunities but didn’t execute well.”
The Cardinals’ Chase Steinert rambled 8 yards for a touchdown to cap a 61-yard scoring drive. The Cardinal drive was aided by two major penalties against Larned.
Larned’s Brady Hope picked up a fumble and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown. Fernando Herrera’s kick knotted the game at 7 apiece.
Midway of the second quarter, keyed by a 40-yard run by Tony Moore to Larned’s 22-yard line, the Cardinals’ Legend Robinson raced 6 yards for a touchdown and a 13-7 lead. Robinson rushed 32 times for 218 yards as the game’s dominant factor. Robinson scored on a 24-yard run for a 21-7 halftime lead.
Hoisington converted 7-of-12 third downs with an efficient ball control offense. Larned converted 1-of-9 third downs and 0-5 on fourth downs.
The turning point came when the Cardinals earned a first down on a running into the punter penalty that led to a 93-yard scoring drive. Hoisington quarterback Wyatt Wikum connected with Tony Moore on a 53-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 27-7. Larned’s Brady Hope returned the kickoff to the Indian 36 and with 11:37 remaining, Logan Erway broke his 64-yard touchdown run to bring the game to the final 27-14 score.
“When we got the score to 27-14, we had a shot,” Remy said. “We couldn’t get any crucial stops. Our effort was excellent tonight but our execution wasn’t. We are young, we have a lot of guys in key positions that haven’t been there before. We’re going to get better.”
Erway gained 69 yards on eight attempts. Quarterback Riley Pontius attempted 29 passes, completing 14 for 131 yards. Brady Hope had five receptions for 40 yards and Luke Wilson had four grabs for 33 yards.
Hoisington (1-1) travels to Halstead and Larned (1-1) will enjoy Homecoming against Haven.
Larned 7 0 0 7 – 14
Hoisington 7 14 0 6 – 27
H—Chase Steinert 8 run (Samuel Baldyga kick)—5:49; L—Brady Hope 63 fumble return (Fernando Herrera kick)—0:35; H—Legend Robinson 6 run (kick fails); H—Legend Robinson 25 run (Legend Robinson run)—0:52; H—Tony Moore 53 pass from Wikum (Sam Baldyga kick)—11:52; L—Landon Erway 64 run (Herrera kick)—11:37
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—L—12-54; Erway 8-69; Hope 2-(-6); Pontius 1-(-11); team 1-2; HH 59-382; Logan Robinson 32-218; Moore 10-76; Wikum 12-44; Chase Steinert 3-24; Jason Robinson 1-17; Ian Smith 1-3
PASSING—L—Pontius 14-29-1, 131; PASSING–HH Wikum 1-4-0, 53.
RECEIVING—L—Hope 5-40; Wilson 4-33, Smith 2-4; HH–Moore 1-53
TACKLES—L—Hope 13; HH–Steinert 6, Jason Robinson 5
