Conway Springs loses the ultimate heart-breaker, a Hesston last-second field goal
Colton Terhune runs for 112 yards for Conway Springs in loss to Hesston.
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — It is going to be a long off-season for the Conway Springs football team after getting eliminated from the Class 3A playoffs in the most painful of fashions.
Hesston kicked a walk off a game winning 24-yard field goal to defeat the Cardinals 45-42 and eliminate them from the Class 3A playoffs. The kick culminated a 3 minute 38 second drive that including two fourth down conversions.
Both teams exchanged scores throughout the contest including a second half when neither team could stop the other’s offense. There was just one punt in the contest all game – a 32 yard kick in the first half.
In the end, Hesston accumulated 518 yards of offense – 271 yards in the air and 247 on the ground. They accumulated 32 first downs, and was stopped just once on an interception.
Cameron Cox, Hesston’s shifty quarterback, will give Conway Springs nightmares. He was 19 of 27 for 271 yards and three touchdown passes. He would rush for 154 yards and three touchdowns. All told he accounted for 425 yards of total offense.
None of them was more impressive than his final pass of the evening in which he was able to somehow stave off a ferocious Conway Springs blitz and get the ball to Landon Spencer for a 19 yard gain with less than 34 seconds left to get the Swathers to the 10.
Hesston would then click off the clock to the final second before calling timeout to kick the game winning field goal.
It was a frustrating end for Conway Springs that set a state record for accumulated yardage per game. The offense wasn’t the problem Saturday. It accumulated 347 yards and scored six touchdowns.
Trenton Jones had 166 yards and Colton Terhune had 118 yards rushing. The Cards even threw in a pass, a 47 yard touchdown pass to Zachary Mercer in the second quarter. With those stats, Conway Springs was sure to win.
Zachary Mercer scores on this 47-yard touchdown pass reception.
But it wasn’t. Because Hesston was an offensive machine.
Conway Springs opened with a 1 yard Jones touchdown, but Cox responded with a 25-yard touchdown on the other end. The score was 6-6 at the end of the first quarter, and they were just getting started.
The Cardinals led 14-12 when Cox threw a 19-yard bomb to his favorite receiver Reese Nebel. Conway Springs came back and scored on its 47 yard pass.
It appeared as if Conway Springs was going to lead at the half, but Hesston scored on the last play of the first half when Cox threw a rifle to Mitchell Martin amongst Cardinal defenders. Think about that, Hesston scored on the final play of both halves.
The second half was a free-for-all. Conway Springs got the ball first and would score to tie the game at 28-all. Hesston responded in kind to take a 34-28 lead. The Cardinals rolled back to tie the game at 34-all.
In the fourth quarter, a Cox 9-yard touchdown pass and a 2-point conversion pass thereafter made it 42-34.
But Conway Springs started the next drive at its own 44 after a nice Terhune return. And it would use up to five minutes before scoring on a game-tying 5-yard Jones touchdown carry with 3:38 play. Then Terhune hit Chase Blaine on the two-point pass conversion.
The game was tied at 42-all, but the clock still showed a lot of time. Hesston was as far back as its own 12 with 3 minutes to play. But despite a sack, a near interception, a penalty for an offensive lineman being downfield, Hesston continued to move the ball downfield.
In the end, the Swathers would prevail and take down the third ranked team in the state.
See statistics here.
