Salina Central’s Pony Express rolls on.
The Mustangs scored five second-half touchdowns and rushed for 427 yards Friday night as they pulled away for a 49-24 Class 5A quarterfinal victory over Salina South in the first playoff matchup between the crosstown rivals since 2004.
Senior running back Cooper Reves led the charge for West No. 2 seed Central, rushing for 308 yards on 34 carries with five touchdowns. The Mustangs improved to 10-1 and will travel to Great Bend next Friday for a semifinal showdown with the top-seeded Panthers (11-0), who held off Hays, 29-22.
For Salina South (3-8), the loss ended a remarkable playoff run as the West’s No. 14 seed after the Cougars stunned No. 3 Andover and No. 6 Liberal on the road in the first two rounds.
South led the game midway through the third quarter, 24-21, when Izrael Telles hit Jaxon Myers with a 32-yard touchdown pass. A 20-yard scoring strike from Telles to Jaxton Kitchener with one second left also gave the Cougars a 17-14 halftime advantage.
But the second half belonged to Central, which scored the game’s last 28 points to blow the game open. Reves put the Mustangs in front for good, 28-24, on an 8-yard touchdown run with 2:43 left in the third quarter and tacked on scores of 11 and 1 yards in the fourth before junior quarterback Griffin Hall added an exclamation point with a 19-yarder at the 1:43 mark.
Central finished with 455 yards total offense on just 51 plays. In addition to Reves, Hall rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns and completed 3 of 6 passes for 27 yards. The Mustangs outgained South in the second half, 254 yards to 94.
For South, junior running back Armane Redmond rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries, while Telles completed 11 of 26 passes for 168 yards and two scores.
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Photos by Tanner Colvin
