CHENEY 56, LARNED 20
BY BUDDY TABLER
Special to the Tribune
LARNED – 3A District 8 champion Cheney Cardinals cruised past Larned 56-20 to stay unbeaten. Cheney (8-0) will play Clearwater. Larned (3-5, 1-4) travels to Halstead.
The 20 points scored by Larned were the most allowed in a game by Cheney all season. Jackson Voth intercepted an errant Larned pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown for a comfy 35-13 lead.Voth hit his favorite target, Luke Grace, on a slant pattern, for a touchdown that pushed the Cheney halftime lead to 42-13.
“Cheney is an outstanding football team," said Larned coach Tad Remy. "Their quarterback, Voth, is the best I’ve seen in my years of coaching. He definitely will play at the next level. I was very pleased with how we competed. We were right in the game until just a couple of minutes before halftime and our interception kind of ignited them and they scored twice, putting the game away.”
After Cheney scored on their opening drive, Larned responded with a 41-yard touchdown scamper on an end run by Fernando Herrera. Cheney responded with a 35-yard touchdown run by Josiah Elder for a 13-7 lead. The Cardinals scored again on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Voth to Dayton Higgs.
Cheney flubbed the kickoff, and Larned’s Ian Orth alertly picked up the ball and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown that made the score 27-13, setting up the dramatic moments just before halftime.
“That may have been the shortest kickoff return for a touchdown in school history," Remy said. "Ian Orth was really alert on that play and knew that it was a live ball. Credit him for quick thinking.”
Larned and Cheney traded touchdowns in the second half. Cheney scored on a 46-yard touchdown pass from Voth to Luke Grace and a 15-yard touchdown run by Brayden Dibble. Larned Riley Pontius completed a 14-yard TD pass to Jayden Smith.
Cheney's Voth had 229 yards of passing and 3 touchdowns. Larned was limited to 73 yards passing on 12 completions in 26 attempts. The Indian running game gained 56 yards in 24 attempts.
Cheney 13 29 14 0 – 56
Larned 7 6 0 7 – 20
C—Josiah Elder 10 run (Weston Hill kick); L—Fernando Herrera 41 run (Herrera kick); C—Elder 35 run (kick fails); C—Dayton Higgs 37 pass from Harrison Voth (Hill kick); L—Ian Orth 42 kickoff return (kick fails); C—Quincy Thomas 22 run (Hill kick); C—Jack Voth 22 interception return (Rylan Doshier run); C—Luke Grace 46 pass from Voth (Grady Keuhn kick); C—Brayden Dibble 15 run (Keuhn kick); L—Jayden Smith 14 pass from Kaden Pontus
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING—C—21-115; Thomas 6-37, Elder 4-29, H. Voth 4-25, Dibble 3-12, Caleb Wehrman 3-9, Higgs 1-3.
PASSING—C—Voth 10-17-0, 229.
RECEIVING—C—Grace 3-101, Higgs 3-58; Jack Voth 2-57; Doshier 1-11, Black 1-8, Thomas 1-2, Robertson 1-(-1).
