NEWTON – Little River senior Graham Stephens has delivered an excellent career in all three phases. He has collected more than 3,500 yards of total offense and 350 tackles. Stephens is an all-state specialist and has a career touchback rate on kickoffs above 80 percent.
In Saturday’s Eight-Man, Division I state championship game versus Leoti-Wichita County, Stephens’ first kickoff went for a 79-yard score just 55 seconds in the contest. After that, Stephens booted every attempt into the end zone.
However, the teams kept trading touchdowns. Stephens had tried onside kicks as a freshman and sophomore, though not in the last two seasons since Kevin Ayers became head coach.
Stephens noticed an opening in middle of Wichita County’s kickoff return. He convinced Ayers to try an onside. Late in the first half, Stephens successfully converted the onside kick. The play helped Little River steal a crucial possession in a wild 70-58 win at Newton’s Fischer Field.
“My motto is just to get it past the 10-yard line,” Stephens said. “And get on it, and get down, and we did it. We never once practiced it.”
It marked the highest scoring eight-man state championship game in state annals. Last season, Little River lost 74-38 to Wichita County in the state quarterfinals, though Stephens was out with a knee injury.
“Graham Stephens is a great player,” senior Jayden Garrison said. “Does a lot of things well for us. Obviously missed him last year when he went out with an injury, and we kind of felt like we had an edge in this game, even though people were doubting us – which people were doubting us all season.”
Ayers called having Stephens “that extra little pop” an experienced, improved team needed.
“Watching all those other kids, how much better they are when we played them last year was pretty rewarding,” Ayers said.
This time, Little River led 40-30 after a 17-yard run from Stephens. He then recovered the onside kick on the next play.
“They just saw an opening in our alignment, and they just hit it,” Wichita County coach Brant Douglas said. “I mean, even if our guys had been quick on their feet, I don’t think they could have got it, because of where he kicked it, and how quick he was on it, so it was just a great play call by them, and good execution.”
The next possession yielded a 29-yard pass on 4th-and-22 to Garrison. That set up a six-yard TD run from Stephens with 1:55 left in the first half for a 46-30 advantage.
After a Wichita County punt, Little River scored again with one second left in the first half on an eight-yard scoring reception from sophomore Braden Young. He had three catches all year entering the game. Little River led 54-30 at halftime and maintained at least a 10-point lead all second half.
“That was a very big catch,” Stephens said.
Little River finished 11-2 and beat its third higher-ranked opponent in the playoffs. Wichita County, into the state title game for the first time in school history, ended at 12-1. Little River was into its first final since ’01. The Redskins had five previous titles, the last coming in ’99.
“The players have nothing to be ashamed of,” Douglas said. “They played a great season, and they came out and played a really good team and they played them tough. One of the teams had to lose, and it happened to be us this game.”
Ayers moved to 4-1 all-time in championship games. He won ’01 and ’03 titles with Jetmore and ’07 with Sharon Springs-Wallace County. Ayers, in his 21st season overall, joined Tom Young as the lone coaches to win championships at three different schools. Young, now retired, captured his titles at 11-man Hanover, Wellington and Derby.
Last spring, Little River had its boys’ basketball season halted in the final four because of COVID-19. The Redskins were unable to finish the year. This fall, Little River, unlike many other teams, had no games cancelled.
“There has just been so much more weight,” Ayers said. “And emotional stress, I guess you would call it. And so tired. To come to this point, and we are all just ‘We are going to finish strong,’ but you are just so tired from all the things that we have had to deal with, and I think that makes it special. To be able to come through this, and win a state championship is an incredible feeling, and I am so glad my boys got to experience that.”
In late October, Little River did have a COVID breakout and the football team elected to go remote school to avoid any possible quarantine. Ayers said the remote decision probably saved the team’s season. After Saturday’s win, Ayers became emotional when he discussed this year and relationships formed.
“We went into every Friday saying, ‘We are just so thankful we get to play,’” Ayers said.
On Saturday, Garrison and Stephens, the team’s two quarterbacks, each culminated their careers with highly impressive performances. Garrison joined the football team once Ayers came in ’19. He cleared 2,000 all-purpose yards as a junior and more than 2,400 this fall.
“He saw how much fun we were having out here from when I was a freshman and sophomore, and he is like, ‘I am going to try,’ and we finally got him out here, and he’s a heckuva athlete,” Stephens said.
Garrison finished Saturday’s game with 31 carries for 236 yards and four rushing scores. He completed 4 of 4 passes for 70 yards and a TD. Garrison delivered three catches for 53 yards and a TD.
Stephens contributed 130 rushing yards, 67 passing yards and five scores accounted for.
“They just played an almost perfect game offensively,” Douglas said.
Little River never trailed, though Wichita County continued to stay close behind returning first team all-state senior quarterback Kayde Rietzke. He passed for 217 yards, rushed for 189 and accounted for six touchdowns.
Little River led 28-22 after the first quarter. The Redskins bumped their lead to 40-30 after Stephens scored on a 17-yard run. Stephens had wanted to run the onside earlier, but Ayers had previously held off. This time, he OK’d the try. Ayers called the kick “just perfect.”
“He’s a great coach,” Garrison said. “I knew it was coming, and it looked pretty good. They were spreading out wide and kicked it right up the middle and got on that. That was a big change, big point in the game.”
Five plays later, Little River faced its 4th-and-22 after a 14-yard sack. Garrison told Ayers he believed he could win his 1-on-1 matchup on the outside versus Wichita County’s Sheldon Whalen. Little River ran a play Garrison called “Dragon.” Garrison hauled in the catch.
“He’s just that type of player,” Ayers said. “I mean, quickness and he understands how to set people up, and he’s got that, we call it a wiggle. I mean, you just watch. He just knows how to position people and make or break, and he’s explosive.”
Little River 70, Leoti-Wichita County 58
Little River (11-2) 28 – 26 – 8 – 8 | 70
Wichita Co. (12-1) 22 – 8 – 20 – 8 | 58
Scoring Summary:
First quarter
Little River — Garrison 46 run (run failed), 11:17 (LR 6-0)
WC — Porter 79 kickoff return (run failed), 11:05 (6-6)
Little River — Garrison 1 run (run failed), 6:19 (LR 12-6)
Little River — Grah. Stephens 9 run (Garrison run), 2:15 (LR 20-6)
WC — Rietzke 63 run (Rietzke run), 1:49 (LR 20-14)
Little River — Garrison 39 run (Garrison run), 1:31 (LR 28-14)
WC — Whalen 68 pass from Rietzke (Chavez pass from Rietzke), 0:50 (LR 28-22)
Second quarter
Little River — Garrison 21 pass from Grah.Stephens (run failed), 11:23 (LR 34-22)
WC — Chavez 21 pass from Rietzke (Rietzke run), 8:12 (LR 34-30)
Little River — Grah.Stephens 16 run (pass failed), 4:21 (LR 40-30)
Little River — Grah.Stephens 6 run (run failed), 1:55 (LR 46-30)
Little River — Young 8 pass from Grah.Stephens (Herzog pass from Grah.Stephens), 0:01 (LR 54-30)
Third quarter
WC — Rietzke 43 run (Rietzke run), 10:46 (LR 54-38)
WC — Rietzke 1 run (pass failed), 9:21 (LR 54-44)
Little River — Lafferty 43 pass from Garrison (Grah.Stephens pass from Garrison), 7:47 (LR 62-44)
WC — Whalen 7 pass from Rietzke (run failed), 3:01 (LR 62-50)
Fourth quarter
Little River — Garrison 4 run (Grah.Stephens run), 8:24 (LR 70-50)
WC — Bishop 1 run (Chavez pass from Rietzke), 5:04 (LR 70-58)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING:
Little River – Garrison 34-218, Grah.Stephens 22-89.
Wichita Co. – Rietzke 24-193, Gardner 9-41, Bishop 1-1.
PASSING:
Little River – Garrison 4-4-0-73, Grah.Stephens 3-3-0-64.
Wichita Co. – Rietzke 15-20-1-205, Porter 1-1-0-14.
RECEIVING:
Little River – Lafferty 4-73, Garrison 2-56, Young 1-8.
Wichita Co. – Whalen 7-107, Chavez 4-63, Porter 1-1, Bishop 3-25, Gardner 2-10.
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