The scoring stopped at halftime of the 4A district-deciding tilt between Jefferson West and Holton Oct. 29 but the second half was still a nailbiter as the Wildcats escaped Meriden with a 16-13 win.
The deciding play ended up being a 36-yard field goal by Holton senior Mitchell Hampton with time dwindling in the first half. For the most part, the teams were evenly matched as Holton churned out 295 yards of offense, all on the ground, and West compiled 278 yards of offense with 233 of that total on the ground.
It was the yards that West didn’t get that cost them a game in which they controlled the action throughout the second half.
Holton picked up a delay of game penalty before its first offensive snap but, three plays later, senior Jackson DeLay broke free for a 62-yard touchdown run to give the Wildcats a 6-0 lead as Hampton’s extra-point kick sailed wide.
The teams traded stalled drives before a 16-yard run by West senior Stephen Skaggs set up a 25-yard scoring strike from senior quarterback Alex Baker to senior wideout Austin Siess to give the Tigers the lead with the Baker extra point, 7-6.
Holton converted a fourth-and-inches situation on its next drive and a 46-yard run by Hampton was the key play as junior Gunnar McKenna took the ball in for the score from 1 yard out to make it 13-7 with Hampton’s extra point. and 2:34 left in the opening quarter.
West drove inside the Holton 25 on its next possesson as junior back Ethan Mumaw had a 37-yard run on the drive, but Siess came up short on a run on fourth-and-3 to give Holton the ball at its own 20. Holton let the chance to grab momentum slip away as, on a rainy night, junior quarterback Bryce Barnett fumbled a second down snap and Skaggs recovered for West at the Holton 35.
The Tigers didn’t take long to capitalize on the miscue as Baker connected with Mumaw for a 20-yard gain on a screen pass and a 9-yard Siess run helped set up a Siess 2-yard touchdown run to tie the game as Baker’s extra point kick ricocheted off the right upright and cross bar before falling short.
Holton ground down the clock to drive 50 yards on its next possession before facing fourth-and-8 at the 18 with 26 seconds left. After a timeout, Holton coach Brooks Barta elected to kick the field goal and Hampton’s boot sailed true to give the Wildcats the 16-13 lead with 20 seconds left in the half. Tigers head coach Steve Johnson had Baker kneel out the clock and the teams went to halftime.
Neither team could do much on their first drive of the second half as West picked up a delay of game penalty on fourth-and-short and was forced to punt, and Holton went three-and-out on its first chance of the half. West was driving at the Holton 26 on its next possession but the Wildcats recovered a fumbled snap at their own 28 to kill the drive.
Holton got the offense going to drive the ball 45 yards to the West 27 but a holding penalty and an incomplete pass on the Wildcats’ only pass attempt of the game stalled the drive.
West responded with another drive into Holton territory as Mumaw broke a 27-yard run and a personal foul call on Holton gave the Tigers first down at the Wildcats 21 early in the fourth quarter. On third down at the Holton 14, Baker looked to find Siess on a pass in the back of the end zone but, despite Siess’ best efforts, he couldn’t make the catch in bounds and the Tigers faced fourth down. Baker looked for Siess again on fourth down but the pass sailed through Siess’ hands and off the top of his helmet as Holton took over on downs at the 14 with 10:06 to play.
West’s defense held strong to force another Holton punt and the Tigers mounted another drive. Mumaw, Skaggs and Siess drove the ball on runs to the Holton 19 with less than five minutes to play. West called a timeout with 3:21 to play facing third-and-7 at the Wildcats 20. A Baker pass intended for Siess fell incomplete at the goal line and, on fourth down, Holton Kane Lovvorn knocked the ball away from sliding Tigers senior Tim Rhodd at the goal line to give the ball to the Wildcats on downs at the 20 with 3:07 to play.
Needing another defensive stop, the Tigers stopped Hampton inches shy of a first down on third-and-9 with about 90 seconds to play at the Holton 29. On fourth-and-inches, Barta had to choose between going for the game-killing first down in his own territory or punting the ball away and chose to risk the former. Sophomore Rob Riederer plowed forward for two yards and senior quarterback Ashtin Meerpol was able to kneel out the clock to secure the 16-13 Wildcats win.
Mumaw was the key player for West in the game as he amassed 178 rushing yards on 27 carries on a soggy night. Baker was 2-for-7 passing for the Tigers for 45 yards. Holton was led by 100 yards rushing on 14 carries by DeLay with McKenna adding another 84 yards and Hampton adding 75 on the ground.
Johnson said his team had its opportunities but couldn’t make the best of them. The loss dropped West to 6-3 to finish the regular season. They advance to the 4A bi-district playoffs and were set to travel to Basehor-Linwood to play in that round Tuesday. The game hadn’t been played at press time.
“These were tough conditions to try and make plays in,” Johnson said. “I’d say on a dry field, 99 times out of 100 Austin makes that catch (on the first failed fourth down in the fourth quarter). We were forced to make some throws and it worked out for them. I might have gotten a little bit greedy there in the fourth quarter but the pass was there. Maybe I should have been a little more stubbron and ran the ball. We put in a good enough effort to win that game, and we’d love to play them agan, but it would have to be in the state semis. I thought our defense was absolutely awesome tonight. It’s a letdown but we’ll get back to work tomorrow.”
