MAIZE, Kan.—The Maize Eagles, undefeated on the season, showed exactly why they are a strong contender to win another class 5A state championship in a few weeks as they rode the arm and legs of K-State bound Avery Johnson to rout the Salthawks 41-13 in football action at Maize Stadium on Friday night.
It didn't take long for the Eagles to flex their muscles as Daeshaun Carter ran the ball around the right side 83 yards on the first legal play from scrimmage with 11:24 remaining to go in the first quarter. Maize was called for holding on their first play and the ball was spotted on the 17 before the Carter 1st and 15 run.
The Salthawks answered back with a Nic Lange pass to Noah Khokhar. The 54 yard pass with 10:02 to go in the first tied it up 7-7.
Maize marched right down the field on the Eagles next possession as Johnson connected with Bryson Hayes for a 27 yard TD catch and run. Hayes broke three tackles with a marvelous run to make it 14-7 Maize with 6:57 to go in the first quarter.
Maize scored twice in the 2nd quarter on a 4th and goal 9 yard pass from Johnson to Jaeden Marten and a strip sack on Nic Lange as Caden Miranda got the scoop and score from 10 yards out to make the score 27-7 with 4:21 to go in the first half.
Hutch then put together their best drive of the year going on an 11 play, 80 yard drive that ate up 3 min and 55 seconds to score on a 2 yard Lange run to cut the deficit to 27-13 at the half.
Maize kept the Salthawks scoreless in the second half while the Eagles scored on a Tayveon Williams 2 yard run and the final Avery Johnson touchdown run of 7 yards to make the final score 41-13.
Johnson accounted for 3 of the 5 Eagle touchdowns while going 16 of 22 for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns. The K-State bound QB also ran for 42 yards on 9 carries and a score. Carter ran wild for 118 yards on 13 attempts including that 83 yard td to start the game.
The Eagles earned 444 yards on 52 plays and held the Salthawks to 267 yards on 54 tries.
The loss only drops the Salthawks 1 spot in the 5A West standings along with five other teams tied with 5-2 records going into the final week of the regular season.
Hutchinson (5-2) hosts Andover (3-4) next Friday as the Trojans lost to Andover Central 38-14 Friday night.
Maize (7-0) closes out their regular season at home versus Haysville-Campus next week.
The first round of the class 5A playoffs begin on October 28th with the top 8 ranked teams hosting the bottom 8 ranked teams as the journey to Pittsburg State begins.