#9-seeded Arapahoe made the trip to Shelby to face the #8-seeded Shelby-Rising City Huskies in the second round of the Class D1 Playoffs. It was a game riddled with turnovers, penalties, and mistakes, but, a very hard-fought game with some excellent plays made too.
Arapahoe has been a team that has faced a ton of adversity in the last few weeks, and Friday evening was no different as they attempted to make a 22-0 comeback and battled more injuries. The effort was excellent, but Arapahoe fell, 30-22.
All in all, the first half was very strange. A bunch of ups and downs for both teams.
The Warriors forced turnovers but couldn't get points. And the Huskies forced a bunch of turnovers too.
Following the Warriors' first possession on offense, the Huskies took over on a short field, the Arapahoe 28-yard line. After a few plays, Logan Lindlsey threw an interception to Clayton North, as North was returning it, the ball was forced out and SRC took possession back. The Huskies took over the rock and a couple of plays later scored on a nine-yard run by Carter Eickmeier. It was 8-0 with 8:04 to go in the first.
The Warriors had a couple of nice runs on their next possession, but a fumble from Grayson Koller stalled the drive. Both North and Koller bounced back nicely from the mishaps, making plays in all-three phases as the game rolled on.
Again, SRC had a short field to work with. On their ninth play of the drive, Logan Lindsley threw a pass, that was intercepted by Koller at the four-yard line. With the sudden change, Arapahoe decided to take a shot. Kade Fisher was looking downfield, and the ball was a touch underthrown and intercepted by Logan Lindsley.
The Huskies scored on a 23-yard pass from Lindsley to Dalton Pokorney. The two-point conversion was good and it was 16-0.
The quarter closed with that score. As we mentioned, it was a strange start. The Huskies didn't have a single-possession start in their own territory until later in the game.
Early in the second quarter, Arapahoe had the ball and ended up fumbling as Kade Fisher was fighting for yards and lost it. The Huskies made quick work scoring on a 22-yard run. The conversion was no good and it was 22-0 with 9:13 remaining in the half.
After that, the comeback was on. The Warriors seemed to refocus and get things going in the right direction. Fisher found Will Cacy on a beautiful pass, that resulted in a 55-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion was good and it was 22-8.
The Warriors forced a punt and then Grayson Koller housed the return from 65 yards away and all of a sudden the Warriors were right back in it. Fisher found North on the conversion and it was 22-16 late in the half.
The Huskies attempted to stay aggressive late in the half, but Lindsley threw two more picks to Grayson Koller. The Warriors couldn't turn those into points, but they kept SRC out of the endzone.
It was 22-16 going to halftime.
In the second half, the defense tightened up and the pressure was high. No scoring took place in the third and going to the final stanza, it was 22-16 in favor of SRC.
Early in the fourth quarter, Arapahoe had an impressive drive. It was over six minutes long, 15 plays, had some nice runs from Fisher and Cacy, along with an effective pass from Fisher to Cacy, and a two-yard touchdown run by Will Cacy capped it off.
The conversion was no good, but it was 22-22 with 4:08 remaining in the game.
The Huskies answered with a 33-yard touchdown run from Eickmeier, and the conversion was good 30-22 with 1:48 remaining in the game.
Arapahoe had a couple of chances in the waning moments of the game. First, on the next possession, an interception was thrown and the Huskies had the ball back.
Then, SRC ended up giving the ball back to the Warriors on a turnover on downs, with three seconds to go. Arapahoe had it on the SRC 38 and drew up a play in hopes of scoring a touchdown, but it fell to the ground incomplete.
We caught up with Arapahoe Head Coach Dustin Kronhofman after the game. Postgame interviews are brought to you by Acme Printing Company.
Unofficial Stats for Shelby-Rising City
The Huskies had 286 yards rushing and 23 yards passing. They also had five turnovers. Carter Eickmeier had 179 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Logan Lindsley had 68 touchdowns and a score. Lindsley had 23 yards passing a touchdown and four interceptions.
Dalton Pokorney had a catch for 23 yards and a touchdown.
Unofficial Stats for Arapahoe
For Arapahoe, Will Cacy had 52 yards rushing and a touchdown. Kade Fisher was 5-13 passing, 134 yards, with a touchdown and three interceptions. He was effective on the ground totaling 39 yards. Cacy had 80 yards recieving and a touchdown. Koller had 51 yards receiving. The Warriors had four fumbles.
The Warriors had three interceptions on defense, Koller recorded three and North had one. Koller had that punt return for a touchdown too.
Briggs Hill had 17 tackles and Koller had 15.
SRC moves to 9-1 and will face #1 Sandy Creek in the quarterfinals next Friday.
Arapahoe ends the year at 8-2.
Check out the highlights from the game brought to you by Praire Girl Candle Company.
