Sutherland 44, Kimball 26

The Kimball High football team saw their season record dip to the loss side Friday night at Senior Parent’s Night for the Horns losing to a hard hitting Sutherland Sailor Club 44-26. The Horns are now 3 and 4 on the season with their final game of the year set for tonight (Thursday) at Bayard.

The Horns got down early as they fumbled the opening kickoff with the Sailors recovering at the Kimball 17 yard line and they quickly turned that into 8 points with Bennett Floyd going in from 10 yards out and scoring in the 1st quarter as Kimball was intercepted twice in that time frame to stop their drives.

That second interception led to an early second quarter score as the Sailors started at the Kimball 8 yard line and Floyd got his next TD on a 1 yard run with 11:11 showing on the clock, but the conversion run failed leaving it a 14-0 margin. Floyd got his third touchdown late in the period on a 14 yard run and Sutherland passed complete for the conversion points to lead 22-0 at half time.

The second half started out with Sutherland scoring quickly with Connor Floyd doing the honors on a 24 yard run and then carrying in the conversion run as well to run the score to 30-0. The Longhorns would get their first score on a pass from Izaac Reuter to Zane Anthony that covered 45 yards but a pass play for the conversion points was no good leaving it a 30-6 ball game. Bennett Floyd would get his fourth TD of the game in the third period on a 4 yard run and Connor Floyd would run in the conversion to go up 38-6. Third quarter scoring ended with Reuter connecting with Christian Allen-VanPelt on a 34 yard pass play but again the pass for the 2 point conversion failed.

Sutherland started off the 4th quarter with Connor Floyd going in from 3 yards out for their final points to run the score to 44-12 with 7:01 remaining, but the Kimball boys would battle to the bitter end scoring twice in the final 3 minutes. Toby McManigal went in from 3 yards out for his first career TD and a memorable moment for the 240 pound lineman. Zane Anthony broke for a 39 yard sprint to the goal line with 1:56 left to play and Reuter threw complete to Thomas Muldoon for the conversion points.

The final stats were quite comparable with both teams ending up with 321 yards of offense. Kimball ran 62 plays and Sutherland 52. The Horns were 5 of 16 passing for 90 yards and Sutherland was 1 of 4 for just 11 yards. The winners piled up 310 yards rushing to Kimball’s 231. Both teams had 8 penalties but Kimball had 4 turnovers, including 3 interceptions, to 2 for the winners, both on lost fumbles. Kimball had time of possession by 3 minutes over Sutherland.

In individual stats, Bennett Floyd, a senior, had 144 yards rushing and scored 4 touchdowns for Sutherland. Connor Floyd, a junior, ended with 121 yards and 2 touchdowns rushing. Zane Anthony led Kimball with 105 yards on 14 carries with 1 rushing TD. Izaac Reuter had 54 yards on 10 carries, Jake Jenkins 46 yards on 11 carries, Allen-VanPelt 23 yards on 10 carries, and McManigal got 1 carry for 3 yards and a touchdown.

In the receiving department, Anthony had 3 catches for 55 yards and 1 TD. Allen-VanPelt 1 catch for a 34 yard TD. The 3 interceptions really hurt the Kimball cause, but the Horns had to go to the air to try and play catch up.

Leading the defensive stats was Anthony with 0 solo tackles and 2 assists. Corey Travis had 4 solo stops and 5 assists, McManigal was 2 and 4, Luis Portillo 1 and 6, Blaynne Rohde 2 and 3, Reuter 2 and 2, Jenkins 1 and 3, Izaak Rohde 2 and 1, Allen-VanPelt 0 and 4, Austin Lulf 1 and 1, Beau Hanks 0 and 2 and Muldoon 0 and 1.

There was only 1 punt in the contest and it was a 57 yard beauty by Allen-VanPelt.

Injuries have hurt the Kimball cause this season with Brayden Tyan and Ethan Greenwood not suited for the Sutherland game and it appears that Tyan may require surgery for a broken bone in his shoulder which may keep him out of basketball as well. Luis Portillo, 250 pound senior, went out of the game late with an injury, leaving the Longhorns with just 12 players in uniform compared to 25 on the Sutherland roster.

The Horns will close out their season this evening (Thursday) in a 6 p.m. kickoff at Bayard. A win could leave them even on the season at 4 and 4. Once again it will be a tough battle as Bayard has the exact same record as Kimball at 3-4 and won over Perkins County this past week 48-20.

Sutherland 8 14 16 6---44

Kimball 0 0 12 14---26