On the longest play of the night, senior Octavius Lyles followed his blockers until he found a lane open. He had one thought on his mind: Run.
The result was an 85-yard touchdown run.
“I seen one lane, and I used that and I was just like, ‘All right, you got to go now,’” Lyles said of his long run. “‘Here’s the time. Run. Run.’ And then nobody caught me.”
The game was a complete team effort as the Cardinals defeated Bonner Springs 55-7. Bonner Springs had a tough time moving the football against the Cardinals defense all night. The offense then capitalized on the opportunities the defense set up for them.
An example of this came in the second quarter when junior Adrion Seals made a diving interception along the sideline. A few plays later, Lyles took off for his big touchdown run, his second of three touchdowns he had on the night.
But Lyles said he doesn’t really care about his performance so long as the team gets the win.
“I don’t really care as long as we’re winning games and putting points on the board,” he said. “That’s all I care about.”
Junior Braylen Hoobler also was a key contributor to the win by making plays on both sides of the ball. Hoobler made several tackles on defense and caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from junior Kole Manley.
“It’s mostly my teammates,” Hoobler said about the team’s performance. “We just played together as a team.”
The defense even added to the scoring when senior Jaiden Bender returned an interception all the way for a touchdown. The Cardinals forced Bonner Springs to turn the ball over a total of three times.
Offensively, sophomore Errol Siemon also added a pair of touchdowns, including one from 34 yards out where he broke multiple tackles on the play. But the night was capped off when sophomore Connor Watson scored on a long touchdown run on a trick play that fooled just about everyone in the stadium.
Head coach Drew Steffen said he wants to see more performances like this one from the team.
“I think we played really well, really competed and had a really good week of practice,” Steffen said. “I think the biggest thing is if we play with a little bit of an edge, it’s going to make it tough for teams to defend us.”
The Cardinals are on the road for their next two games against Spring Hill and Ottawa, respectively. The team’s next home game is Sept. 30 against Louisburg.
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Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at[email protected].
