By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Friday's city showdown between Washburn Rural and Shawnee Heights featured enough big plays to fill a couple of highlight reels and more than a few miscues by both teams.
But when the dust finally settled after nearly three hours, the visiting Junior Blues had prevailed in a 51-41 shootout.
Washburn Rural celebrates after Friday night's 51-41 win at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The tone for the night was set when Rural and Heights traded 64 and 73-yard touchdowns over the opening three minutes and the pace barely slowed the rest of the night in the non-league battle between the two longtime city rivals.
"It was a typical first ballgame,'' Washburn Rural coach Steve Buhler said. "Cramps on cool weather, lots of great plays, great athletes on the field, big plays in big games, guys stepped up. We've been talking about that, who were going to be the guys to step up?''
After trailing 14-7 at the 4:47 mark of the opening quarter, Washburn never trailed after scoring 20 straight points to build a 27-14 advantage with 5:26 left in the first half.
But Shawnee Heights, which trailed by as many as 16 points, clawed back time and time again to get as close as three on multiple occasions and the game wasn't officially decided until Junior Blue senior Nate Selm fielded a T-Bird onsides kick attempt and rambled 47 yards for the night's final TD with 14 seconds remaining.
"Nate Selm, a great baseball player, and he showed it on that last play,'' Buhler said. "He scooped that thing up on that hop and he was gone.
"It was great to see that and one thing we've been preaching already is the idea of being persistent and staying with it and playing through and I was really happy with our kids. There were times where we could of just kind of let off the gas a little bit and been upset about some things, but our guys played through a lot of mistakes and kept playing hard and that's what we've been preaching all fall.''
Selm, who caught a 31-yard touchdown pass earlier in the game, had an idea of what he wanted to do on the onsides attempt, beginning with making he sure he caught the ball.
"You've got to,'' Selm said. "I was just kind of reacting. I saw it come off his foot and I was just like, 'There's no one coming to get me and I might as well take this one to the house.'
"I watch You Tube videos and knew the rule that you can go get it before 10 yards and I saw that little gap and took off.''
Selm said that Rural knew it was going to have to come up with big plays to hold off a talented Shawnee Heights team.
"A crazy game,'' Selm said. "Heights is really good and their offense can score and those dudes are all really good. They can throw the ball and catch the ball. They've got a ton of great athletes. Aiden Scott (Heights' star quarterback), I grew up with him and he can heave the ball, man.''
Unofficially, Scott completed 26 of 47 passes for 369 yards and four touchdowns and three interceptions while senior Tyren Parker had seven catches for 162 yards and 73 and 35-yard TDs.
John Hoytal countered with an 11 of 20, 201-yard passing performance and a pair of TD passes for the Junior Blues, who were also able to have success running the ball with senior TJ Minikwu going 28 for 77 yards and junior Jadyn Baum picking up a game-high 84 yards on 12 attempts.
Minikwu and Baum scored two TDs apiece, including a 39-yard Baum run with 2:33 remaining to put Rural up 44-34.
"Dylan Tajchman, a three-year starter at center, I trust him and I looked at him and I said, 'We need three first downs,' and he got me three first downs,'' Hoytal said. "I trust my guys up front and Jadyn and TJ in the backfield and I knew we were going to get it done.''
Washburn Rural will host Blue Valley next Friday while Heights will host Topeka West in its United Kansas Conference opener.
WASHBURN RURAL 51, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 41
Washburn Rural (1-0) 14 13 7 17 -- 51
Shawnee Heights (0-1) 14 7 0 20 -- 41
Washburn Rural -- Vantuyl 64 pass from Hoytal (Austin kick)
Shawnee Heights -- Parker 73 pass from Scott (Granado kick)
Shawnee Heights -- Wakes 1 run (Granado kick)
Washburn Rural -- Minikwu 2 run (Austin kick)
Washburn Rural -- Minikwu 1 run (kick failed)
Washburn Rural -- Selm 31 pass from Hoytal (Austin kick)
Shawnee Heights -- Parker 35 pass from Scott (Granado kick)
Washburn Rural -- Baum 12 run (Austin kick))
Washburn Rural -- Austin 28 FG
Shawnee Heights -- Kamanda 13 pass from Scott (converson failed)
Shawnee Heights -- Wakes 4 run (Granado kick)
Washburn Rural -- Baum 39 run (Austin kick))
Shawnee Heights -- Williams 26 pass from Scott (Granado kick)
Washburn Rural -- Selm 47 kick return (Austin kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Washburn Rural: Baum 12-84, Minikwu 28-77, Hoytal 8-23. Shawnee Heights: Wakes 22-60, Scott 4-(minus)-12.
Passing -- Washburn Rural: Hoytal 11-20-0, 201 yards. Shawnee Heights: Scott 26-47-3, 369 yards.
Receiving -- Shawnee Heights: Parker 7-162, Gallegos 8-101, Williams 4-45, Owens 3-31, Kamanda 2-24, Daniels 1-8, Labrador 1-(minus)-5. Washburn Rural: Baum 4-60, Vantuyl 2-71, Selm 1-31, Roth 1-17 Richard 1-13 Glaze 1-9, Minikwu 1-0.
