Comets can’t hold first-half momentum

KANSAS, Okla. — After watching a 13-0 lead vanish in the first half, the Salina Wildcats shut the Kansas Comets out in the second half to take home a 42-21 win Friday night at Dee Neel Stadium.

Salina (4-2) jumped out to a two-score lead in the first quarter with a pair of touchdowns, starting on the Wildcats’ second drive. The drive, which started on the Kansas 39-yard line after a short Comet punt, lasted only one play as quarterback Heath Stewart found Darren Daniels for a short pass to the left that Daniels took all the way down the sideline to score.

Up 7-0 after a successful PAT, Salina held Kansas to a threeand-out, and made short work of the following drive, as Stewart threw his second touchdown pass of the day, finding Branson Littlefield all alone behind the coverage for a 68-yard touchdown.

But Kansas would strike back, taking the lead with 21 unanswered points. Quarterback Keelan Davis led the Comets on a four-play drive powered by a 60-yard pass to Tucker Phillips on a catch-and-run over the middle, that got the home team to the Salina 10-yard line. Davis would hit Chance Kolysko for the touchdown at the tail end of a long roll to Davis’ right.

Not letting up on the gas, Kansas forced a fumble on their own four yard line, preventing Salina’s Jesse Tramel from extending the Wildcats’ lead. Three plays later, Davis would get loose, breaking through a pack of players for a 96-yard touchdown. A failed fake kick for a two-point conversion kept the score tied at 13 until the closing minutes of the first half.

Aaron Reeder set up the next Kansas score when he hauled in a 57-yard reception, falling just two yards short of the goal line. Brent Morikawa took the touchdown in from two yards out, and Kansas had its first lead of the game, 21-13.

“We had the same issue last week with Chouteau,” said Salina coach Matt Williams. “It’s like we fall asleep for a while.”

“We haven’t gotten to the point yet where we play 48 minutes of good football,” Williams said. “You know, we might play 24

of the 48. When we take those lapses, we struggle.”

But Williams said his team got together and put more effort into their game as the second half wound down, putting more effort into the blocks and playing with more energy. And for Williams and the Wildcats, it paid off.

Salina started marching down the field with two minutes remaining in the half, before their drive was cut short by a Kansas interception at the Comets’ 16-yard line.

With the endzone at their backs, Kansas opened the drive with a loss of four yards, and then a disastrous snap that escaped over Davis’ head. Davis rushed back to retrieve the loose ball, but he was tackled for a safety.

Salina would then shut out Kansas for the remainder of the game, and took the win thanks to a touchdown from Peyton McCarty, two more from Stewart, and a final touchdown from Tramel. Down late, Kansas turned the ball over three times in five offensive snaps, as Salina kept the Kansas offense off of the field with a pair of interceptions and a forced fumble.