Salina South traveled to Andover High School for a matchup with the 3 seed Andover Trojans, winners of six straight games. Salina South, the 14 seed, entered the night 1-7 on the season with three one possession losses. Head Coach Christien Ozores said pregame, that he felt like his team matched up well in some areas despite being underdogs. Ozores mentioned that his team has defended well against some solid running backs this year and was confident his team could hang in there against the wishbone offense that the Trojans run. The Cougars wanted to get their run game started early, as well as the short pass game to help relieve some pressure off of the shoulders of their sophomore quarterback Izrael Telles. Lastly, Ozores mentioned in his keys to victory before the game, that the Cougars needed to create a big turnover in some point in the game.
Andover got the ball first to begin the 2025 playoffs on Halloween, and thanks to a big kick return, they were set up at midfield for their first offensive play. As expected, the run game was in action early, as the Trojans ran the ball eight straight times to begin the game, and Barrett Hill capped it off with a touchdown. The extra point was no good, and it was 6-0 Andover. The Cougars finally got the ball on offense for the first time of the night with just under 6 minutes in the first quarter, and they wasted no time. A dose of runs from junior running back Armane Redmond, and the short pass game led by Telles, the Cougars drove right down the field. Armane Redmond capped off the drive by punching it in for a TD, his 5th of the season. The Cougars decided to go for 2 and converted, giving Salina South an 8-6 lead to end the first quarter.
Andover got the ball back and went slowly down the field once again, as they found the end zone for a second straight possession, the two-point conversion was good and the Trojans regained the lead 14-8. The Cougars got the ball back for just their 2nd drive of the game, with a little over six minutes to play before the half. Once again it was Redmond leading the charge with the rushing attack, followed by some big passes from Telles, which set up the Cougars in the red zone. On 4th down and 5 from the 15 yard line, Telles heaved a ball to the back corner of the end zone into double coverage where senior wide receiver Jaxon Meyers leaped up over two defenders to make the grab and then toe tapped the corner of the end zone on his way down to give the Cougars their 2nd touchdown of the ball game. Another 2-point conversion was attempted and converted by Salina South, as they grabbed a 16-14 lead with 2 minutes left before halftime.
Andover quickly drove back down the field on their 3rd possession of the game, this time going through the air with their quarterback, Will Quinn. The rare passing attack from Andover was successful during the final seconds of the first half as Andover punched it in the end zone with 9.8 seconds left, this time a receiving touchdown for Barrett Hill. The two-point conversion was no good, and Andover took a 20-16 lead over Salina South into halftime.
The Cougars began the 3rd quarter with the football and drove it right down the field against the Trojan defense. Armane Redmond helped the Cougars pick up some big 3rd down and short before Telles found Jaxon Meyers in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown, Telles 2nd passing TD of the night. The two-point conversion once again was good and just like that the Cougars retook the lead over Andover 24-20.
A big defensive stop by Salina South forced a turnover on downs in the final seconds of the 3rd quarter, and the Cougars got the ball back on offense to begin the final 12 minutes of play. A massive stand by the Andover defense forced the Cougars to punt it for the first time of the night with around eight minutes left to play.
Down by four points, with the football, and 3 timeouts, the Trojans slowly crept down the field on the Cougars defense. The ground game was working to perfection for the Trojans offense as it looked like Andover was going to avoid a big first round upset. With the ball spotted at the 5-yard line, in Cougars territory, it was 3rd down and 1, with a minute and some change up on the clock. A first down would set up a 1st and goal situation for the Andover offense, but the Cougar defense forced a FUMBLE near the goal line, and somehow, someway, the Salina South Cougars recovered the fumble and after taking a knee, upset No. 3 seed Andover on the road in dramatic fashion.
Izrael Telles was terrific in the win for the Cougars, the young quarterback showed poise running the offense. Quick, smart, and decisive decisions from the Young quarterback led him to throw two touchdown passes on the evening, and arguably the most accurate we have seen him. Armane Redmond was a key factor with his legs as well, leading the team in rushing and showing some explosiveness and physicality in the backfield. The Cougar defense, came up big when it mattered, two possessions in the 2nd half for the Andover offense, and zero points to show for it. An all-around team win for Salina South as the Cougars pull off one of the biggest upsets in the state this year, and possibly the biggest upset of the 2025 playoffs.
Cougars will be back in action next Friday at 7pm against Liberal on Y93.7
South- 8 / 8 / 8 / 0 (24)
Andover- 6 / 14 / 0 / 0 (20)
