Celebration pictures courtesy of Tanner Colvin

EMPORIA — Salina Central sophomore Javyn Armstrong had no idea when he lined up for the second-half kickoff that one play would change the entire trajectory of the Class 5A state championship game.

The Mustangs trailed unbeaten Basehor-Linwood by four points at halftime, and the Bobcats got the ball to start the third quarter — or so they thought.

Instead, the Bobcats return man muffed the second-half kickoff and with the ball up for grabs, Armstrong pounced on it, and the Mustangs were in business at the Basehor-Linwood 35-yard line. Seven plays later they took the lead for good on a 4-yard Griffin Hall quarterback keeper.

Not only did the fumble recovery help put Central back on top but triggered a third-quarter avalanche in which the Mustangs forced turnovers on Basehor-Linwood’s first three possessions on the way to a 51-34 victory at Emporia State’s Welch Stadium.

It was Central’s seventh all-time state championship but the first since 2005, as the Mustangs finished with a 12-1 record. Basehor-Linwood, which reached the state finals for the first time in school history, also finished at 12-1.

“I feel like everyone was down, worried that we weren’t going to come back,” Armstrong, said of the sudden momentum swing after Central trailed 14-10 at the half. “I feel like that the fumble recovery really made people have some courage, and we were really going to bring it back.”

And that was just the beginning. An Eli Kreighbaum interception on Basehor’s first play from scrimmage in the half set up another score, followed by a drive-killing fumble recovery. On each occasion, the Mustang offense cashed in, leading to a 21-point third period and 41-poiint second-half explosion.

“We just came out and wanted it more,” said Kreighbaum, another sophomore, who went from backup quarterback to starting outside linebacker this year. “We had a bad first half when we just came out as a team, and we figured out things that we were doing wrong, and we just executed.”

“We didn’t feel like we lost the game (at halftime), we just knew that there was more on the table.”

Not only did the Mustangs force three turnovers to start the second half, but also turned Basehor-Linwood over on downs on its fourth possession, leading to another touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

“The whole playoffs, our defense just came up big,” said Central running back Cooper Reves, who after a slow start ran for over 200 yards and four touchdowns in the second half to finish with 250 yards on 30 attempts. “They’ve come up big when it’s close, and that’s been our biggest thing, I think, in the playoffs, just our defense stepping up and doing the things they needed to do.”

Senior running back Cooper Reves

Basehor-Linwood tried to make a game of it with three fourth-quarter touchdown passes from quarterback Carson Dixon but got no closer than 10 points. By that time, the Central running game was in high gear, led by Reves and an imposing offensive line.

“I think we wore them down over the course of four quarters,” Central coach Mark Sandbo said. “I think you could kind of see that a little bit the way we were running the football, and we weren’t going to give up on it.”

But it was the turnovers — Basehor-Linwood had five in the game to none for Central — that got it started.

“Those were huge,” Sandbo said. “And it was just a tidal wave of positive emotion rolling through us. It steamrolled up into the bleachers, and we felt it for two quarters.”

Linebacker Jesus Delgado seemingly was everywhere on defense during the surge. He finished with a game-high 10 tackles, including three for losses, a sack, and an interception in the fourth quarter.

“We went into halftime not even doubting each other,” Delgado said. “Our coaches talked about believing in each other and that all the time we put in during the offseason was for this moment.”

“(The third quarter) was extremely surreal. You look around and the clock is ticking, everybody’s up, and you look into the stands and it’s just white noise. Everything was happening the right way.”

Junior quarterback Griffin Hall

Hall, who completed 10 of 19 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns, plus rushed for 69 yards and another score, credited the Mustang defense for turning things around.

“They stepped up huge and ultimately changed the outcome of the game,” he said. “They stripped the ball, got some turnovers and an interception, and our offense just punched our way down the field and had some explosion, and it ended up turning out how we wanted it to.”