Final:
Valley Center 29
Salina South 23
Salina South falls to Valley Center on Homecoming night 29-23. The Cougars once led 17-0 in the first half but the Hornets would score 21 unanswered to take the lead 21-17. The Cougars did answer back to retake the lead but with 49 seconds left, Valley Center took the lead back to win 29-23.
Valley Center started with the football but were forced to punt after a negative play put the Hornets behind the sticks. Salina South on their first drive took the ball 16 plays and scored on a 19 yard touchdown pass from QB Izzy Telles to WR Gabe Autry. Valley Center would punt again on their next drive and the Cougars increased their lead on the ensuing possession on a field goal from K Easton Wilcox. The Cougar defense continued to roll as they turned the Hornets over on downs. A big play from DB Kobe Henley on 4th down stopped the Hornets and Salina South had all the momentum. A few plays later, Telles found WR Jay Curtis for a 32 yard touchdown pass to make it a 17-0 ballgame. With 2:46 left on the clock before halftime, Valley Center had a very important drive that resulted in a 1 yard touchdown run by RB Rylan Bailey. The Cougars got the ball back with little time left and decided to take the game to halftime at 17-7.
To start the third quarter, the Cougars drive the football 75 yards and took up over 8 minutes and 30 seconds of clock only to be stopped on 4th down by Valley Center on the 5 yard line. Valley Center answered quickly with an 81 yard touchdown pass from QB Conner Thatcher to WR Spencer Crumrine. This made it a 17-14 game. To start the 4th quarter, Telles threw an interception on 4th down and Valley Center had great field position. They had a big pass play to WR Evan Chavez that set them up for a 1 yard touchdown run by Rylan Bailey. Valley Center took their first lead in the 4th quarter 21-17.
Salina South would retake the lead however on a 1 yard touchdown run by Armane Redmond. The extra point was missed to make it a 23-21 Salina South lead. The Hornets drove the ball down the field and on a 4th and 2, a hard count by QB Conner Thatcher got the Cougars to jump offsides that led to a first down. With 49 seconds left, Thatcher would run the ball in and retake the lead 29-23.
With 44 seconds left, the Cougars moved the ball down the field. As time expired, Telles connected with Jay Curtis for a game tying 32 yard touchdown pass, but the play was negated due to an illegal formation penalty against the Cougars. Salina South got one untimed down to take another shot at the end zone but the pass dropped incomplete. Salina South fought hard all night but Valley Center made the plays when the needed it the most.
With the loss, Salina South dropped to 0-5 on the season, while the Valley Center Hornets improved to 3-2.
