KANSAS, Okla. -- The Colcord (Okla.) Hornets have district title aspirations along with the hopes of a long run in the Oklahoma Class A playoffs but before anything else, the Hornets had to deal with their south Delaware County rival Kansas.
Colcord turned three Kansas turnovers in the first half into touchdowns and the Hornets' ground game put the game away in the fourth quarter in a 46-33 victory over the Comets on Thursday, Sept. 1, before a large crowd at Dee Neel Stadium.
It was the ninth straight victory in the series for Colcord.
"We're going to build off this," said Colcord coach Austin Martin. "We got this stressful game out of the way. We're moving on. I know it's a rivalry game and stuff, but our goal is much bigger than this game. We want to win a district championship. We want to go undefeated and all that stuff. The bar is set high for us, and this is just a stepping stone for us."
The Hornets never trailed in Thursday's game, racing out to a 28-7 lead at halftime.
Kansas scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to get within one score of Colcord, 28-20, but the Hornets answered to go back up 34-20.
Kansas got back within a touchdown at 34-27 but this time Colcord scored two more touchdowns to lead 46-27 with 1 minute, 1 second remaining.
Kansas scored again with 39 seconds left and the Comets attempted an onside kick, but Colcord recovered and was able to run out the clock.
"First off, hat's off to Colcord," said Kansas coach Warren Kirk. "They're a good football team. I think nine games from now, they'll be a 10-0 football team. Just on us, we can't give a good football a three touchdown-lead. But with that being said, we came in here (at halftime), we regroup, and our kids go out there and just compete their butts off in the second half and get back in the game and had chances to tie the game up. That says a lot about us, and I hate losing, but I'm a proud Comet. I'm proud of my kids. I think we fought. We're tough. We competed."
After pinning the Kansas offense deep in Comet territory, Colcord came up with its first turnover.
Hornets senior Eyan Williams jumped a screen route and intercepted Seneca Steel's pass at the 3-yard line, and the Hornets were in prime scoring position.
On the very next play, Cooper Mott plunged three yards into the endzone with 5:44 remaining in the first quarter to give the Hornets a 6-0 lead.
Late in the first quarter, Colcord senior lineman Sawyer Sherrell recovered a Steele fumble and returned the ball to the Kansas 15 to set up another short scoring drive.
Runs by Gabe Winfield and Mott got the ball to the 3 and the junior quarterback Winfield scored with 10:25 left in the first half for a 12-0 lead. Winfield also ran in the two-point conversion for a 14-0 Hornets lead.
Kansas' offense came back firing. Steele hit four of four passes on the Comets' next offensive possession, including a 44-yard touchdown to Scrappy Glass to bring the Comets within 14-7 with 6:18 left in the half.
Colcord responded with a scoring drive to take a 21-7 lead after Mott's second touchdown run with 2:19 left in the half. Winfield hit Treyden Larmon for a 29-yard pass on third-and-seven earlier in the drive.
The Hornets got their third turnover just seconds later when Jesse Martinez stripped a Kansas receiver and returned the fumble 35 yards for a touchdown with 1:41 left to go up 28-7.
"We had a bunch of seniors make plays," Martin said. "I mean Sawyer almost took the snap from the quarterback at one point. Ian got a pick down here. Jesse stole the ball and returned it. I mean those were seniors right there. We had seniors break out and become leaders. That's what good, solid teams are supposed to do, have good solid leadership, so I'm super proud of those guys."
Kansas came out and quickly scored to pull within 28-14. Steele hit Max Noe for 21 yards and Glass for 11 yards before finding Noe for eight down to the 1. Paul New scored on a 1-yard run to make it 28-14 with 9:58 remaining.
Kansas got the ball back and went back to work, as the Comets executed a double pass. Steele threw a backwards pass to Elias Warren, who threw deep to New for a 33-yard gain.
The drive reached inside the Colcord 10, but the Hornets held on fourth and short to prevent the Comets from scoring.
However, just a few plays later, Steele recovered a fumble for the Comets, who then went down and scored.
Glass scored on a three-yard run with 31.8 seconds left in the third to pull within 28-20.
Colcord answered offensively to go up 34-20.
Mott ran for 17 and 14 yards into Kansas territory. He hit Gio Acosta for nine yards and then Larmon for 20 before scoring from 11 yards out on a QB run.
Kansas fired back quickly with Steele hitting Zach Majors for a 30-yard touchdown to get the Comets back within 34-27.
But Kansas couldn't stop Colcord's running game, which piled up 149 yards on 21 carries in the fourth quarter alone. Winfield and Mott combined to rush for 61 yards on the next drive with Winfield going 20 yards for a score to go up 40-27.
The Hornets forced a Kansas turnover on downs and went back to work on offense. Mott rushed for 38 yards down to the 7, and then ran twice more to punch the ball into the end zone for a 46-27 lead with 1:01 left.
Steele threw his third touchdown pass of the night, a 45-yard strike to Noe to set the final score.
Steele finished 19 of 36 for 256 yards with Warren completing one pass for 33 yards. Noe caught seven passes for 85 yards with Glass catching five for 81 and Majors three for 61, Warren four for 29 and New one for 33.
The Comets struggled to get their ground game going, totaling 45 rushing yards on 25 carries. Kansas (1-1) had 334 yards of offense.
The Comets are back in action Friday, Sept. 9, at Fairland.
"We're a good football team that just needs to fix a few mistakes," Warren said. "Whether that be a bad throw, or a receiver should have blocked there, taking care of the ball or somebody squeezing a hole on defense, just little things that can be fixed. We're going to fix them, and we're going to be a good football team moving forward."
Colcord (1-0) piled up 243 rushing yards on 46 carries.
Mott led with 160 yards on 21 carries, while Winfield had 81 yards on 22 carries. He also completed 13 of 19 passes for 119 yards.
Larmon led all Colcord receivers with seven catches for 92 yards.
Colcord, which finished with 362 yards of offense, is back in action at Stroud on Friday, Sept. 9.
"We had guys step in and make big plays," Martin said. "It was a big team effort, and that's what it takes to win ballgames."
Maud 46, Watts 0
The Engineers fell to 1-1 on the season with a shutout loss to the Maud Tigers on Friday, Sept. 2.
Watts is back in action Friday, Sept. 9, at Cross Christian.
Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader Colcord (Okla.) senior Sawyer Sherrell (left) is tackled by Kansas (Okla.) junior Tyrel Jackson after Sherrell recovered a Comets fumble. Colcord forced three Kansas turnovers and all three led to touchdowns in a 46-33 victory for the Hornets over their south Delaware County rivals.