Garden Plain's Lucas Jennings is tackled by Collegiate's Raymond Taylor in the first half on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. Jeff Tuttle/The Wichita Eagle | Buy this photo
Collegiate stops Garden Plain
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As Wichita Collegiate prepared to play Garden Plain in the first round of the Class 3A football playoffs, the focus was squarely on defense and stopping the Owls’ potent running game.
Coach Bill Messamore pulled out a defense he had installed as an assistant in 2000, when the Spartans won the 3A title.
“It’s kind of complicated, but we practice without a ball,” Messamore said. “We never had a ball in practice, so we had to hit everybody.ć.ć.ć. (Assistant) coach (Troy) Black put his touches to that, and it made it special tonight.”
That defense controlled visiting Garden Plain on Tuesday night in a 51-20 victory. Collegiate (10-0) will play host to Hillsboro on Saturday.
“We’re not soft like everybody thinks we are,” Messamore said.
The victory snapped Collegiate’s four-game losing streak in the playoffs that included a string of three firstround losses.
“The last three weeks, we were talking that no one gives us respect,” Collegiate senior quarterback Blake Jablonski said. “We see it, we understand why everybody says that. We had a chip on our shoulder.ć.ć.ć. We talked about respect, and we earned respect tonight.”
Not only did Collegiate force four turnovers — two fumbles and interceptions by Tyler Coughenour and Bryce Cornejo — the Spartans held Garden Plain to 145 rushing yards. Seth Klausmeyer had a teamhigh 61 rushing yards, while three other backs had 22 apiece.
“They definitely held us up in the middle,” Garden Plain coach Todd Puetz said. “We just got beat.”
On Garden Plain’s first two possessions, the Owls had two three-and-out series for a combined eight yards.
Two of the Owls’ scores came after a six-yard punt to the Collegiate 36 and then, in the final minutes, an interception return by Thomas Bugner.
It didn’t help the Owls that the Collegiate offense was nearly flawless.
“Our line was blocking, and the receivers were catching and Blake (Jablonski) was throwing — he probably threw for 500 yards,” Coughenour said.
Jablonski threw for six touchdowns and was 24 of 39 passing for 281 yards. Receiver Brett LeMaster had nine catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns, while Tre Bailey had three touchdown receptions.
Jablonski gave the credit to the offensive line.
“I told the linemen before this game that if we won this game, all the praise was going to them,” he said. “ć.ć.ć. The line didn’t give up one sack.”
It was a frustrating night for the Owls.
“They were moving the ball so well,” Puetz said. “We were playing a catch-up game and things were getting out of control.ć.ć.ć. They spread the field out. They threw the ball well. We got beat.”
Garden Plain (8-2) 7 7 0 6 — 20
Wichita Collegiate (10-0) 14 10 14 13 — 51
WC—LeMaster 14 pass from Jablonski (Lowden kick)
GP—Eck 5 run (Bugner kick)
WC—Taylor 34 run (Lowden kick)
WC—Lowden 29 FG
WC—Bailey 5 pass from Jablonski (Lowden kick)
GP—Youngers 5 run (Bugner kick)
WC—LeMaster 33 pass from Jablonski (Lowden kick)
WC—Bailey 2 pass from Jablonski (Lowden kick)
WC—Bailey 10 pass from Jablonski (Lowden kick)
WC—Searle 4 pass from Jablonski (kick blocked)
GP—Bugner 36 INT return (kick failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing—Garden Plain, Klausmeyer 14-61, Thimmesch 3-22, Bugner 10-22, Eck 9-22, Youngers 3-10, Pauly 4-8. Collegiate, Taylor 6-52, LeMaster 3-38, Jablonski 6-0, Coughenour 6-(-2).
Passing—Garden Plain, Bugner 1-8-37-2, Klausmeyer 0-1-0-0. Collegiate, Jablonski 24-39-281-2, LeMaster 0-1-0-0.
Receiving—Garden Plain, Klausmeyer 1-37. Collegiate, LeMaster 9-143, Bailey 7-58, Taylor 3-53, Searle 3-18, Coughenour 2-9.