FOOTBALL

Halstead  Middle SchoolTakes two from the Trojans.
The Halstead Dragons traveled to Hillsboro last Thursday night.  It was a beautiful fall night as the sweatshirts were brought out, quite a contrast from the 100 heat two weeks earlier.   Once again the Dragons posted shut outs on Defense.  On offense it was a different story as the two groups combined for a total of 117 points. 
The 7th grade opened the night scoring 44 points.  Lakye Heimerman led the way with 113 yards, 2 touchdowns and a PAT.  Jacob Witt made his debut as running back, rushing  for 46 and adding two Touchdowns.  Gage Hardtarfer rumbled 48 yards for a score as well.  Tacking on two point conversions were Andy Theilen, and Cory Heibert.  Defensively the 7th Grade was led by Jacob Witt 8 tackles and a Fumble Recovery.  Followed by Cameron O’Neill with 6 tackles and a sack.  Hardtarfer added a fumble recovery, while Kenton Freeman added a sack.  Rounding out the Defense was a couple of interceptions by Kaden O’Neal and Chase Vansteenburg.

The 8th Grade had an offensive explosion as they scored 73 points.  Leading the Touchdowns were Blake Beckett and Casey Kohr with 3 apiece.  Leading the rushing was Christian Morris, with 78 yards, one touchdown and a PAT.  Others that scored Touchdowns were Eli McKee, Dylan Ratzlaff, and Jayden Kniffen.  Six Dragons added PAT’s including, Morris, Beckett, McKee, Ratzlaff, Kaleb Smith and Tate Kaufman.  Kaufman also kicked one through the uprights for the first one point conversion on the season.  Defensively  Morris and McKee were leading tacklers with 5.  The Dragons accumulated 7 Fumble Recoveries.  Noah Davidson, Taylor Armstrong, McKee and Kniffen each had one.  Devin Chesky had 3 in 5 minutes,which has to be some sort of a record.   
Next up for the Dragons is Hesston this Thursday at Hess Field.  7th Grade kickoff at 5:00 followed by the 8th Grade.

HMS Splits Hesston Improve to 4-0.

Halstead Middle School hosted the Hesston Swathers Sept. 22, 2011.  The 7th Grade started off the night with the battle of unbeatens.  Halstead entered with a 4-0 record and the Swathers at 3-0.  It was a game where the young 7th graders could not get the offense firing on all cylinders.  Everytime they caught a break, they would turn around and make a mistake of their own. Defensively they played tremendous only allowing only two big plays.  Unfortunately the two big plays resulted in Touchdowns.   It just was not their night as Hesston blanked the Dragons 14-0.  
The 8th Grade started the game a little emotional.  The fumbled the opening play and then were scored on 3 plays later.  The first score the Defense has allowed this season.  After a few more penalties and a time out the boys finally relaxed and played their game.  That would be the only score that Hesston would have as the 8th graded cut down the Swathers 53-6.  The Offense was led by Blake Beckett 126 yards rushing, 51 yards receiving, 3  rushing touchdowns and 2 PAT’s.  Followed by Eli McKee with 88 yards rushing 47 yards receiving, 28 yards passing and 3 rushing touchdowns.  Dylan Ratzlaff added 53 yards  rushing a touchdown, and 2 PAT’s.  Christian Morris had 50 yards rushing.  Rounding out the offense was Kaleb Smith 51 yards receiving and a PAT.  Trevor Thomas 11 yards rushing and 115 yards passing.

Defensively the Dragons were led by Beckett 11 tackles and a sack.  McKee 10 tackles.  Smith and Taylor Armstrong add a Fumble Recoveries and Ratzlaff and Thomas each had an interception.  The 8th Grade improves to 4-0, while the 7th Grade falls to 4-1.  Next up the Dragons travel to Sterling to face the undefeated Black Bear team.   Kick off will be at 6:00 with a 5th quarter that follows.

It was one of the best football games played by the Dragons,  few mistakes and great control of the game allowed them to dominate the game 29-0.

It was also a big night for quarterback Jonah McKee, running for three touchdowns. McKee, a Senior, can read a play, find the hole and move the ball. At 5 foot 5, he is is just like gun powder, small and explosive. When asked how do you manage to find a hole, penetrate and gain yards? McKee replies, " I just think of playing football with my brothers when I was "little" and I always knew how to gain yards penetrating between my brothers to make yards, that's what I think when I am on the field."

The Dragons (3-1, 3-1 Central Kansas League) pulled into a first-place tie with Hesston after their loss to Hillsboro Friday night, Halstead only loss.

Sterling could not find a way to stop McKee. Halstead utilized three quick counts to gain three first downs to score on their second drive. The Dragons continued a drive totaling 14-plays, 80-yard drive McKee ended with a four-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1.

                                                                                                                     Sterling’s offense at times would start to make yards, however a long Seth Humphrey's pass was intercepted by Chance Spicer, who returned it 42 yards. The Sterling turnover set up another short McKee touchdown run, which Halstead followed with a two-point conversion to lead 15-0 at halftime.

The third quarter provided no points. The Dragons were able to score on the first play of the 4th quarter, when McKee faked a hand off left and dashed right-off guard to break through the line getting hit by the left linebacker, broke the tackle only to get hit two more times and sprint to the end zone out running a 6 foot plus Sterling player!

Coach Marc Svaty  was pleased saying, "Our kids played a good football game on Friday night.  Anyone in attendance could see that there was a dramatic size advantage that Sterling had over us.  They have some big kids.  Our kids came out and executed well throughout the game.  Our defense shined, we held Sterling to less than 100 total yards of offense and came through with a shutout.  Our offense churned out first downs and controlled the game.  We have some issues to deal with in our kicking game with our coverage units.  The win puts us in a situation where if we take care of business against Lyons this Friday night, we will be the CKL league champions which will be good for our kids and our community."