Arapahoe advances to second round with win over Alma
ARAPAHOE - In completing an 8-0 regular season, the formula has been mostly the same for the Arapahoe football team - grab a lead early, lean on a strong and opportunistic defense and roll away to victory.
Visiting Alma went offscript Thursday night as the Cardinals, who dropped a 34-20 decision in Arapahoe the first of October, fell behind early, but exploded for 20 points in the second quarter and eventually claimed the lead in the third.
But the West’s secondseeded Warriors fueled a third-quarter surge with turnovers, then kept scoring to keep the Cardinals at armslength before closing out a 56- 40 victory in the first round of the Class D1 playoffs.
Arapahoe improved to 9-0 and ended the Cardinals’ season at 3-6. The Warriors advanced to the round of 16, where they were reseeded as the No. 3 overall and will host 14th-seeded Perkins County, which upended Bertrand 46- 28 in the first round. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday from Arapahoe.
Wyatt Jenkins opened the scoring early for the Warriors Friday when he rambled 26 yards for a touchdown in the game’s first four minutes. Just a couple minutes later, Tristian White scored the first of his six rushing touchdowns in the game to help Arapahoe to a 12-0 lead through a quarter.
After Alma scored to pull within 12-8, White got loose on a 61-yard touchdown run to build a 20-8 lead. But Alma scored twice in the final 5:25 of the half, including a touchdown 19 seconds before halftime, to knot the game at 20 at the break.
The Cardinals then got a big play to open the third quarter, scoring on a 60-yard touchdown pass to claim their first lead, 28-20, 16 seconds into the second half.
“They took advantage of some things that our defense is vulnerable to if we are not completely locked in,” Arapahoe Coach Dustin Kronhofman said. “We had some plays where guys were trying to do more than they were asked and didn’t simply do what they were assigned. Give credit to Alma they knew those vulnerabilities and kept attacking them.”
But the Warriors didn’t panic. White capped a fourminute drive with a 19-yard touchdown run and then scored on a subsequent twopoint run to pull even at 28.
Arapahoe then forced a turnover and White scored from three yards out to push the Warriors back into a 36- 28 lead. Four minutes later, Jenkins got free on his second scoring run of the game, a 33-yarder, to give Arapahoe a two-score lead again, 42-28.
Alma scored on its first two possessions of the fourth, but White answered with touchdown runs each time, once from 45 yards and once from 28 yards, keeping the Warriors in front.
Gabe White and Levi Kerner then sacked quarterback Ayden Molzahn on back-to-back plays, the second resulting in a safety to put the game away inside the final three minutes.
“These young men have been steady all year - we have been behind in several games sometimes by multiple scores and we have come back and won,” Kronhofman said. “These guys knew that once we started playing our ball and limited the mistakes that we could take over the game. Our guys never wavered in their belief that we were going to win that game.”
Arapahoe never completed a pass from scrimmage, but they didn’t need to. White ran for 247 yards and Jenkins added 218 yards as the two combined for 465.
Alma managed just 104 yards on the ground, but made the most of the passing game, throwing for 276 yards and five touchdowns.
Defensively, Kerner had a disruptive night, leading the Warriors with 11.5 total tackles that included seven tackles for loss. White also had 2.5 tackles for loss. Rafe Hill had 8.5 tackles for Arapahoe and Jenkins and White each had six. White and Bryan Conn each added 5.5 tackles as well.
All attention now turns to the Plainsmen, who will provide a different challenge than the aerial assault of Alma.
“Perkins County is a very big and physical team. Their QB is very athletic and can make all of the plays,” Kronhofman said of Perkins County. “The keys for us will be the ability to get off blocks from their big offensive line and make tackles at the line of scrimmage before their big backs get a head of steam. We will need to be able to move those big guys offensively to open holes for our backs.
“If we can limit our mistakes and win the turnover battle I like our chances.”
