BLANKET – The biggest threat to Zephyr’s quest for a fourth consecutive district football championship was Blanket, but the Tigers were unable to solve the Bulldogs in a 30-20 District 13-A Division II decision Saturday night.
Zephyr (7-1, 2-0) took over sole possession of first place in the league standings with the win over Blanket (7-2, 2-1), which still controls its own destiny in terms of locking down the district’s second playoff berth.
“Our kids were flying around tonight and have been flying around all year,” said Zephyr head coach Derek Stevens. “We’re not as strong as we were last year defensively, but this year we’re leaner and faster. When we come, we come with a purpose. Blanket is a super team and they’re averaging over 50 points a game, so to hold them to 20 is an amazing performance by the boys.”
Blanket outgained Zephyr in total yardage, 281-231, and dominated the time of possession, especially in the first half. Still, the Bulldogs found a way to continue their string of league victories.
The Tigers rushed for 182 yards, led by 109 and two touchdowns from Kannon Kensing, who also caught four passes for 60, and completed an 18-yard toss. Mason Beck passed for 88 yards and a touchdown to Kade Russell, who finished with two grabs for 13 yards, and also rushed for 81 yards and caught an 18-yard pass.
Zephyr put forth a balanced attack the featured 116 rushing yards and 115 passing yards. Chayden Woodcock led the ground game with 85 yards and a touchdown, while Quayde Heard completed 5 of 7 passes for 107 yards and three touchdowns – a pair to Bauer Blair, which finished with 48 yards receiving on his two grabs, and one to Jetson Gowin, who pulled down two receptions for 46 yards.
“Coach (Tyler) Tabor and I try and stay balanced and attack as much as we can,” Stevens said. “We tried to make some adjustments there in the second half when they were sending four so we tried to throw a little more. They gave us some opportunities there and our freshman spread back Quayde Heard was able to capitalize on that.”
After Blanket’s initial drive of the night stalled at the Zephyr 19, it took the Bulldogs one play to light up the scoreboard as Woodcock galloped for a 61-yard touchdown and 8-0 lead.
“It’s always great to start with a bang, there’s a lot of emotion in this game,” Stevens said. “Right after we scored, I told the kids that was great but just know Blanket is going to punch back. We only hit the first blow. “
The Tigers closed the gap to 8-6 with 1:52 to go in the first period as Kannon Kensing scored on a 6-yard carry, but the two-point kick was off the mark and Zephyr maintained an 8-6 edge.
With 42 seconds left before intermission, Zephyr stretched the advantage to two scores as a 38-yard scoring toss by Heard to Gowin, and the two-point by Spencer Marwitz, made the score 16-6.
Woodcock then returned the opening kick of the second half to the Blanket 18 and, following a holding penalty, Heard found Bauer Blair for a 28-yard touchdown connection and a 24-6 lead after another Marwitz kick.
Blanket fired back with a pair of touchdowns as Kade Russell caught a 2-yard pass from Beck to make the score 24-14 with 4:18 left in the third. Then, after a Zephyr four-and-out, the Tigers took over at the Bulldog 37 and in three plays, Kensing broke free from 21 yards out to close the gap to 24-20.
The Tigers then recovered an onside kick and took over at the Zephyr 36 with a chance to surge in front. But Blanket wound up in a fourth-and-30 situation, and lost 11 more yards on a bad snap that allowed the Bulldogs to took over at the Tiger 15. Three plays later, Heard tossed a 20-yard touchdown to Bauer to boost the advantage back to two scores, 30-20, with 7:03 to go.
“Blanket had a lot of momentum right there and we had to make adjustments,” Stevens said. “They were running some under routes and two verts and we’re more of a zone concept team so we had to change some stuff on the back end and understand what they’re trying to do.”
Next week, Blanket has its district bye while Zephyr hosts Sidney (2-5, 0-2), which is coming off an 18-12 loss to Rising Star (4-4, 1-2).
“Gustine played Blanket pretty hard for a quarter and Sidney has only been playing with six or eight players all season,” Stevens said. “No disrespect to those guys, they’re going to come in ready to play, and we’re going to treat it like a game and not take anybody for granted.”
