Picture courtesy of Tanner Colvin

FINAL:

SOUTH 40

VALLEY CENTER 12

The Cougars hosted the Valley Center Hornets on Friday night for their homecoming game in what was set to be an exciting matchup.

Salina South entered the night 2-1 overall, coming off of an impressive win on the road against Hutchinson last week. Valley Center on the other hand, entered the night 1-2 overall coming off back-to-back losses against Maize South and Andover.

The Cougars got the scoring started early with a 5-yard rushing touchdown from QB Izzy Telles, his first rushing touchdown of the season. Valley Center responded right away, as sophomore QB Issac Duncon hit his favorite target Spencer Krumine for Krumine’s 6th touchdown catch of the season. Both teams missed their PAT and the score was tied 6-6 at the end of the 1st quarter.

Salina South put together a long touchdown drive midway through the 2nd quarter, capped off by an Armane Redmond touchdown run, his first of four touchdowns to come on the night. With just under two minutes to go before the half, Valley Center chose to be aggressive and go for it on 4th and short at midfield which ended in a massive interception by Caden Stauffer, who returned it all the way down to the Hornets 25-yard line. Exactly one play later, Telles found Jaxon Kitchener for a 25 yard pitch and catch for six and just like that, the Cougars took a two possession lead into halftime.

Salina South opened the 3rd quarter with the football and marched right down the field for a touchdown, all led by Armane Redmond who was involved in all but one play during the nearly five minute drive. Valley Center answered quickly with a 42-yard touchdown pass to their star receiver Spencer Krumine, his second touchdown catch of the evening.

The Cougars dominated the remainder of the game, as Redmond would find the end zone not once, but two more times before the night was over, finishing with a total of four rushing touchdowns. With 7:08 remaining in the 4th quarter, and the Cougars leading 40-12, Salina stadium went into a nearly hour long weather delay before the game was finally called due to weather conditions. Salina South has now won back-to-back games after defeating Valley Center 40-12.

The Cougars are back in action next Friday as they hit the road in what could be an offensive shootout against Ark City. Salina South improves to 3-1 to start the season and will look to carry that early season momentum into the rest of the year.