Buffalo running back Parker Schwarz dives to add a couple yards to his rushing attempt against Columbus on Friday, Nov. 8. He would end the night with 175 yards rushing. (Photos by Roger Sims / Linn County Journal)
By Roger Sims, rsims@linncountyjournal.com
The Wellsville Eagles’ record so far this season has been outstanding. Ten wins, no losses, three shutouts and three games where they allowed opponents only one touchdown. There latest shutout was last Friday, Nov. 8 against Holton in the district playoff, 49-0.
Of all the teams the Eagles have faced this year, the Prairie View Buffalos have come the closest to upsetting the No. 1 seed in the eastern Kansas playoffs. The Buffalos lost to Wellsville 35-20 in September, but since then Prairie View has put together a series of convincing wins.
The teams will have a rematch in the sectional game on Friday, Nov. 15, as Prairie View (8-2) hopes to advance to the substate game on Nov. 22.
Buffalo head coach Kyle Littrell in an interview on Monday said that the game against the Eagles earlier in the season was missing a few key players that have stepped up as the season has progressed.
Sophomore Buffalo linebacker Hunter McCool pulls down Titan running back Jett Tanner behind the line of scrimmage.
However, the one thing that Littrell has been stressing to his players is to not let Wellsville get in their heads. He said if the team goes into the game with a positive attitude and executes like he knows they can, they stand a good chance of advancing to substate.
What the Buffalos can’t afford to do on Friday is allow turnovers like the three fumbles in the game against the Columbus Titans last week. Littrell said if those hadn’t occurred he is confident each one of the drives would have resulted in a touchdown.
Given the performance of senior Benton Stainbrook on point-after kicks, that would have added 21 points to the 34 points the Buffalos put on the scoreboard that night.
As for the Titans’ score, it was officially 13 points, but for LIttrell, the last play by the Titans with one second on the clock never should have happened. For him, Columbus’ final score was 7, which came on a 68-yard pass play in the third quarter.
Quarterback Wyatt Attebery finds a hole in the Titan line to add to the 54 yards of rushing he had on the night.
Prairie View scored its last touchdown with just under three minutes on the clock in the fourth quarter, making the score 34-7. The Titans begin their next drive on their own 20. Hoping to use their passing game to up their score, Columbus gave the Buffalos plenty of practice in pass defense. However, after 11 plays and two 15 yard penalties, the Titans were on their own 30 yard line with a third and 41.
The next play saw one of the Titan players push down a younger Prairie View player away from the play action and once again moments later repeating that after the whistle was blown on the play. Littrell held back a couple of assistant coaches who were outraged at the Titan player’s actions and seemed intent on rushing the field.
The officials saw the Titan player’s actions, ejected him from the game and gave Columbus another 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. But the officials also put one second back on the clock, giving the Titans a third and long yardage on their own 6 yard line.
Senior kicker Benton Stainbrook puts another point on the scoreboard for the Buffalos following a touchdown against Columbus. He hit on four of his five point-after kicks on the night.
As the Titan offense lined up, the Prairie View defense remained on the sidelines. One official walked over to ask Littrell if his defense was going to take the field. He told the official that his team was done.
The Columbus team, confused at first with no defense, ran a play in slow motion down to the goal line for a touchdown.
For the Buffalos, junior running back Parker Schwarz kept up his 100-plus yards of rushing per game with 175 yards on 20 carries with three touchdowns. Senior Elijah Williams gained 63 yards on the ground on five carries with one touchdown, junior quarterback Wyatt Attebery had 54 yards on nine carries with one touchdown, and Josh Goodwin plowed downfield for 48 yards on 10 carries.
Prairie View had 353 yards rushing for the game. Columbus had 86 yards rushing and 233 yards passing, for a combined total of 331 yards offense.
Columbus racked up 90 yards of penalties compared to 12 yards for Prairie View.
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