Images courtesy of Tanner Colvin

After six long years, the Mayor’s Cup is back at Salina South.

The fact that Salina Central made the Cougars fight for every inch made it all the more special.

In a classic season football opener that produced seven lead changes and saw Central fight back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, it took a two-point conversion stop inches from the goal line for South to escape with a 35-33 victory Friday night at a packed Salina Stadium.

For South, it ended a six-game losing streak against its crosstown rivals, including a Class 5A quarterfinal playoff setback last November that helped propel Central to a state championship.

“It was humongous,” South junior quarterback Izrael Telles said of the victory. “This is definitely going to change the culture in our school.”

“This whole week, people were on our side. They’d usually not come to the games, and even the student section you could see it from my freshman year, a lot more people bought in.”

After going 1-7 during the regular season last year, South battled back with a deep playoff run, upsetting Andover and Liberal on the road before falling to Central in the quarterfinals, 49-24 after leading midway through the third quarter.

History did not repeat itself this time after Telles’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Noah Hines put the Cougars in front to stay, 28-24, with 2:25 left in the third quarter. It was the sixth lead change of the third period.

South pushed the lead to 35-24 on Telles’ 38-yard completion to Jay Curtis eight seconds into the fourth period. It was his fifth touchdown pass, with Hines grabbing three and Curtis two.

But Central did not go quietly. The Mustangs trimmed the lead to eight on Ethan Gragg’s 22-yard field goal — his second of the game — with 6:32 left. The Mustangs then recovered an onside kick and marched 52 yards in 5 minutes, 5 seconds to pull with two on Griffin Hall’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Eli Kreighbaum.

Hall then kept the ball on the two-point conversion attempt but was met at the goal line by South’s Maddox Girard and Montreal McCray to preserve the lead.

“I told our kids at the end of the game, there’s some hurt, there’s some disappointment, but the silver lining is you guys competed and battled and gave us a chance,” Central coach Mark Sandbo said. “We didn’t play well enough.”

“We weren’t clean, and I wasn’t good enough. I told the kids that we’ll watch the film and learn, and I was awfully proud that they kept fighting.”

It took nearly a half for either team to get on the board before Gragg’s 40-yard field goal broke a scoreless tie 1:16 before intermission. But South answered 59 seconds later to grab the lead on Telles’ 39-yard touchdown pass to Hines.

In the third quarter, Central got a 3-yard touchdown run from Hall, a 96-yard kickoff return from Alex Garcia and a 47-yard scoring strike from Hall to Kreighbaum that put the Cougars up 24-21.

But Telles threw touchdown passes of 40 yards to Curtis and 50 and 4 yards to Hines in the period.

Central outgained South offensively, 281 yards to 251, with Hall completing 17 of 25 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Garcia, who was hampered by leg gramps throughout the game, rushed for 90 yards, while Kreighbaum caught four passes for 83 yards.

For South, Telles was 11-for-19 passing for 197 yards and five touchdowns. Armane Redmond was the leading rusher with 66 yards, and Hines caught six passes for 106 yards and three scores.

Central is on the road next week against Goddard, while South stays home to take on Maize.