Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball seniors left to right, Luis Portillo, Zane Anthony, Jake Jenkins, Toby McManigal, Corey Travis and Izaac Reuter.
The Kimball High football season ended on a winning note with the Longhorns winning at Bayard 44-42! With the victory at Bayard, the Horns finished with 4 wins and 4 losses in their first season playing the game 8-man style after years of 11-man style.
The win at Bayard pitted two teams with identical records of 3 and 4 coming into the season finale, and it was a nail biter from start to finish. The hosting Tigers struck first to go up 7-0, but Kimball came back to take an 8-7 lead with Jake Jenkins scoring a touchdown on a 1 yard plunge and Izaac Reuter passing to Christian Allen-VanPelt for the 2 point conversion with just 1:08 left in the first quarter play. Bayard came right back to score with :53 seconds remaining in the opening period with Kildow throwing complete to Dawson Kriha for a 50 yard scoring strike to regain the lead at 14-8 after Traeton Harimon kicked his second point after conversion.
This back and forth contest continued with with Kimball scoring next in the 2nd period with Reuter connecting with Zane Anthony for a 28 yard TD pass but the conversion attempt failed and the score was tied at 14-14. The Tiger's turn as Kildow completed a 25 yard TD pass for Kriha but Kimball blocked the PAT kick leaving Bayard on top 20-14. Zane Anthony put the Horns back on top with his 6 yard TD scamper and Jenkins ran in the conversion to put Kimball back on top 22-20. Bayard regained the lead at 26-22 but a Reuter to Anthony connection one more time gave Kimball a 28-26 lead at half time with the final first half touchdown coming with just :08 seconds showing on the clock when Corey Travis's 2 point conversion run failed.
Kimball opened up the 3rd quarter scoring with Zane Anthony passing to Austin Lulf for a 42 yard scoring strike and when the conversion run failed, the Horns led 36-26, the largest margin in this yo-yo game. Bayard would score with no time showing on the clock in 3rd quarter play and converted the 2 point conversion to close to 36-34.
The Tigers took the lead with 6:05 left in the game and ran in the conversion to hold a 42-36 lead. Kimball sealed the victory with 2:52 left with Reuter running in from 16 yards out and then throwing complete to Lulf for the 2 point conversion for the 44-42 exciting win.
Kimball racked up 422 yards of offense to 346 for Bayard. Both teams went to the air and were successful with Kimball hitting on 8 of 12 attempts for 201 yards and the Tigers going 15 of 22 for 200 yards. Kimball passed for 3 touchdowns with 1 interception and Bayard got 2 Tds by air. Kimball won the ground game with 221 yards rushing on 56 attempts and Bayard rushed 37 times for 146 yards. Both teams had 1 turnover. Kimball had 9 penalties for 58 yards and Bayard 6 for 45. Kimball had 23 first downs and Bayard 24. There was a big difference in time of possession with Kimball having the ball for over 31 minutes compared to Bayard's 16:41 time of possession.
Izaac Reuter was 5 of 9 passing for Kimball with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and Zane Anthony got into the act in his final game completing 3 of 3 attempts for 107 yards and 1 touchdown. It was Reuter and Anthony getting most of the yards on the ground also with Reuter charted for 97 yards on 16 carries with 1 TD and Anthony with 26 carries for 92 yards and 1 TD. Jenkins had 7 carries for 21 yards and 1 TD. Anthony was also top receiver with 4 catches for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns. Lulf had 3 catches for 87 yards and 1 TD. Reuter had 1 catch for 21 yards.
Anthony also led the defensive stats with 5 solo tackles and 6 assists. Lulf was 7-2, Jenkins 407, Reuter 5-3, Travis 1-9, Izaak Rohde 3-2, Allen-VanPelt 3-1, Blaynne Rohde 0-4, Beau Hanks 1-1, Ethan Greenwood 0-2, and Toby McManigal 0-1.
The 4-4 season for the Horns is a rewarding accomplishment for the Longhorns and the Kimball coaching staff after a winless season last year. It was a rewarding season for the six seniors who played their final game for Kimball although some are worthy of post season All Star game selection. The six seniors who will be greatly missed include Jake Jenkins, Izaac Reuter, Zane Anthony, Corey Travis, Toby McManigal and Luis Portillo. We will give you readers a final wrap on the season in the next week or two.
Kimball 8 20 8 8---44
Bayard 14 12 8 8---42
