Buhler 28, Holton 14

All good things must come to an end at some point.  Friday night at Buhler, the 26-game winning streak for the #1 ranked Holton Wildcats came to a halt.  In Class 4A Sub-State, Holton was held to 246 yards rushing and total offense and could not overcome three turnovers or slow down the Crusaders in a season-ending loss.  A huge momentum swing just before halftime, gave Buhler a 14-7 lead and the Wildcats never got any closer in the second half, before finishing another great season with a 12-1 record.  

Buhler moved the football all night long including 12 and 10 plays drives to open the game.  Yet, the game remained scoreless going into the second quarter as the Holton defense came away with a pair of interceptions in the redzone to keep Buhler off the board.  After starting the game with an incomplete pass that led to a three-and-out, the Cats went on their best drive of the game on their second possesion.  Drake Ewing capped the 15 play, 90 yard-drive with an 11 yard score to give Holton a 7-0 with 5:17 left until halftime.  However, Buhler responded quickly marching 63 yards on 9 plays and tying the score with a one-yard run by Riley Allen at the 1:09 mark.  Still, Holton had to feel good and knew they would get the football to start the third quarter.  Yet, the Cats fumbled an option two plays later and the Crusaders capatalized with a Jace Williams to Conner Ridder four-yard strike to go ahead 14-7.  To make matters worse for the Cats, Brenden Hampton had a dazzling kickoff return as the final seconds came off the clock, but after breaking several tackles and sprinting over 75 yards, Hampton was tripped up at the two-yard line and the Wildcats went to the locker room deflated.

Like Holton started the game, the offense went three-and-out to begin the second half and Buhler's first play in the third quarter was a 62 yard touchdown run by Allen for a 21-7 lead.  While the Crusader defense completely shut-down the wishbone attack between the tackles, quarterback, Ethan Holaday found success with the option and used a 58 yard run to set up a 7 yard TD jaunt to pull the Cats within 21-14 with 9:07 left in the third quarter.  Yet, Buhler responded to every Holton punch as the Crusaders went 55 yards on the next 10 plays and Williams ran in a five yard TD to make it 28-14 and finish the scoring for the game with 4:30 left in the third period.  Holton was stopped on a 4th and 8 play, coughed up a fumble and threw an interception in their final three offensive drives, despite the Wildcat defense forcing their only three-and-outs of the game late.  

Holton had contained some of the state's top runningbacks in their 16th straight playoff run, but Riley Allen went off for 214 yards on 27 carries.  Denton Branscom added 70 yards rushing and 53 receiving as Buhler improved to 12-1 and will play in their first-ever Class 4A Title Game this Saturday in Salina.  Coach Steve Warner improved to 3-3 against Coach Barta and and is now 77-20 at Buhler and 199-80 overall.  His previous two wins against the Wildcats came while at Marysville, as Warner has a chance for win 200 in his initial title game appearance, noting after the game "I've been chasing a state title game for 20 years and we want to win it when there's 64 teams."  A meeting between these two teams becomes highly unlikley with the split of Class 4A next year into two seperate 32 team Divisions.    

Holaday led Holton with 133 yards rushing, but was 0-3 threw the air.  Hampton was held to 65 yards on 16 carries and Ewing managed just 35 yards on 10 totes.  The loss for Holton stopped their bid for back-to-back undefeatd championships and was the first since falling to Rose Hill to begin the 2011 post season.  23 Wildcat seniors ended their career with a 45-6 overall record including a state runner-up, undefeated title and this, top four finish.  Holton (along with Andale) might be the Class of the new 4A Division II starting next year, and Coach Brooks Barta (185-31) and Company will cary a 39 game Big 7 League win streak into 2014.