SALINA, Kan. — Steve Warner was praised for his patience and good sense of timing Saturday.
Having watched Coffeyville score on a 61-yard run on the second play of the game, the veteran Buhler head coach resisted the urge to quickly respond with a big play for the Crusaders.
Even after Buhler went three-and-out on its next two possessions, Warner stuck to the game plan at Salina District Stadium.
The result was the Crusaders first state football championship.
Riley Allen rushed for 164 yards on 30 carries with three touchdowns, two in the fourth quarter to open a decisive advantage as Buhler earned a 31-14 victory over Coffeyville in the Kansas Class 4A State Championship.
“This team has been like this all year long; we don’t start real fast, we’ve been down to good teams several times this year, as much as two touchdowns, and we’ve been down at halftime too,” Warner said. “(Coffeyville) shut that down (our run game) a little early and so our passing game had to set up our running game.
“But our best game plan was get the ball to Riley Allen and Denton Branscom and let them win it for us.”
The speedster Allen, a 6-foot, 178-pound senior tailback, had 62 yards on 12 carries in the first half and Branscom, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior all-purpose back, had 50 yards on eight carries.
In the second half, Allen took control with 18 carries and 102 yards while Branscom added 23 yards on another seven carries to go along with 52 yards receiving on three receptions in the game.
“(Coffeyville) was a good, physical smash-mouth team on defense, and I have a ton of respect for them,” Allen said. “Today, I put my faith in our coaches and our coaches put their trust in us that we could get the job done and we did it.
“Our line did an outstanding job blocking and we got what we could. We ran iso’s (isolation plays) to try to get them to pinch down in the middle and then we tried to stretch them out with the toss plays to outside.
“I’m a speed guy, so I like to get out on the edge.”
Trailing 6-0 early after Coffeyville got a 61-yard touchdown run from Destin Downing on the second play of the game, Buhler (13-1) went three-and-out on its next two series.
The Crusader defense responded with two takeaways, a Jacob Mullins fumble recovery and a Dalton Miller interception.
Miller’s interception at the Buhler 14 led to an 11-play drive and a 31-yard field goal by Dakota Wolf.
After Coffeyville went three-and-out on its next possession, Warner finally decided to dial a big play for the Crusaders.
Sophomore quarterback Jace Williams hit Chase Shantz on a tight end seam route down the middle of the field for a 57-yard touchdown strike and a 10-6 lead with 8:00 left in the first half.
“We hit that big play to Shantz after we saw their safeties flying up in run support,” Warner said. “After that, they weren’t flying up so fast.
“It was a matter of timing. We had to get into a rhythm with our play calling. Run the ball, get a first down, then we could set something up in our passing game that would set up our running game.”
The Crusaders added a decisive possession at the end of the second quarter using a seven-play, 80-yard drive in 1:59 with Allen scoring his first touchdown on a nine-yard isolation play and a 17-6 lead.
After both teams traded punts throughout the third quarter, Buhler began a 10-play, 63-yard drive with seven straight running plays to end the third quarter, three more running plays to start the fourth quarter with Allen scoring on a one-yard dive with 11:14 left to play.
Buhler scored its final touchdown on a seven-play, 64-yard drive with Allen scoring from a seven yards out.
Coffeyville struck for one final big play after Allen’s third touchdown. A wide receiver reverse pass — a toss sweep play to LaDarrius Johnson who pitched to Darron Deffebaugh running the reverse who then pulled up and launched spiral to a streaking James Newton who blew past the secondary untouched for a 67-yard touchdown.
Downing toss a two-point conversion pass to Elijah Jones for a 31-14 score, but Coffeyville failed to recover the onside kick.
Williams completed 7 of 14 passes for 140 yards for the Crusaders.
Coffeyville capped a 12-2 season with its first appearance in a state football championship game.
“We score right away, then we’re moving the ball down the field and then we turn it over,” Field Kindley head coach Murray Zogg said. “Those are two drives that we should’ve gone down and scored and we could have been up 21-0 and it’s a whole different ball game.
“If we don’t turn it over and we score, we get to play the game we want to play, instead of the game they wanted to play.”
Downing led Coffeyville with 70 yards on six carries and Johnson added 57 yards on 11 carries. Nathan Finley finished 4 of 19 passing for 41 yards with a pair of interceptions.
Buhler 31, Coffeyville-Field Kindley 14
Kansas Class 4A State Championship
At Salina District Stadium
Buhler 0 17 0 14 — 31
Coffeyville 6 0 0 8 — 14
Cof—Destin Downing 61 run (kick failed), 11:13 1st Q
Buh—Dakota Wolf 31 FG, 10:38 2nd Q
Buh—Chase Shantz 57 pass from Jace Williams (Wolf kick), 8:00, 2nd Q
Buh—Riley Allen 9 run (Wolf kick), 1:02 2nd Q
Buh—Allen 1 run (Wolf kick), 11:14 4th Q
Buh—Allen 7 run (Wolf kick), 5:43 4th Q
Cof—James Newton 67 pass from Darron Deffebaugh (Elijah Jones pass from Destin Downing), 5:31 4th Q
TEAM STATISTICS
Buh Cof
First downs 20 8
Rushes-yards 61-293 22-131
Passes 7-14-1 5-20-2
Passing yards 140 108
Return yards 68 2
Punts-avg. 4-18 5-36.6
Fumbles-lost 4-0 2-2
Penalties-yards 6-54 3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Buhler, Allen 30-164, Denton Branscom 15-73, Williams 9-46, Luke Berblinger 2-8, Joshua Potter 1-3, Ethan White 2-0, Jordan Wedel 1-0, team 1-(-1); Coffeyville, LaDarrius Johnson 11-57, Downing 6-70, Newton 2-3, Finley 3-1.
PASSING — Buhler, Williams 7-14-1-140; Coffeyville, Finley 4-19-2-41, Deffebaugh 1-1-0-67.
RECEIVING — Buhler, Shantz 3-74, Branscom 3-52, Berblinger 1-14; Coffeyville, Newton 2-76, Deffebaugh 2-16, Downing 1-16.
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