Mike Ortega was open.

Eudora High needed five yards to keep its final drive going. With Girard’s defense focused on running back Travis Clarke, Cardinals coach Gregg Webb called Ortega’s number with two minutes left and Eudora trailing by seven.

Ortega sprinted off the line and found a seam in the defense.

But the senior tight end lost his footing and slipped, and the pass was thrown behind him.

Perfect season ended.

Girard defeated Eudora, 21-14, Friday night in the Class 4A state football playoffs at Frank Jameson Field.

“It’s frustrating,” Webb said. “When we got behind, we didn’t handle it well, and we got pressed. We made a lot of mistakes. And if you would have told me they would shut us out in a half, I would have laughed.”

Girard (10-2) put Eudora in an unfamiliar spot. The Cardinals hadn’t trailed anyone all season. The Trojans played exceptional defense. Not only did they not surrender a point in the second half, but they limited Eudora’s big-play abilities.

Eudora High running back Travis Clarke looks for running room against Girard in the Class 4A state quarterfinals. Clarke had 137 yards Friday night in the Cardinals' 21-14 loss.

Girard junior defensive back Tyler Bennett held speedy senior wide receiver Matthew Abel to five catches for 31 yards. Eudora’s longest play from scrimmage went for 23 yards. And that resulted in a touchdown on the first drive.

“The defense was the play of the day for us without a doubt,” Girard coach Blaise Bauer said. “We played at another level tonight defensively that we hadn’t played this year.”

Girard’s offense wasn’t too shabby, either. Darian Kelly put on a show in front of a packed audience that had many overflow spectators in a standing-room-only scene outside the stadium fences.

The sophomore running back only totaled 59 yards, but took three of his 12 carries to paydirt. His first touchdown was particularly impressive. Three Eudora defenders took their turns at Kelly behind the line of scrimmage, but none succeeded in tackling the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder. Kelly bulldozed his way through defenders for a 22-yard touchdown. He said he had extra motivation on the play, courtesy of the Girard sideline.

“The play before, coach told me, ‘Get this. You need to get in there,'” Kelly said. “I told him I’d get it, and I was just determined.”

Kelly didn’t just run over people – he also displayed blazing speed to the outside. On his second touchdown, Kelly sprinted down the right sideline and went airborne from the three-yard line. The football hit the orange pylon for the touchdown.

No wonder Bauer told Kelly to find the end zone.

“I told Darian many times that big-time players make big plays in big-time situations, and this is it right now,” Bauer said. “I need one. He said he’d take care of it, and he did.”

To its credit, Eudora (11-1) played exceptional defense in the second half as well, not allowing the Trojans to score in the last 24 minutes either, making for a scoreless second half. Eudora held Kelly to just two yards rushing in the second half. But a subpar offensive performance, coupled with seven penalties for 53 yards, plagued the Cardinals.

“We were very inconsistent on offense,” Webb said. “One time we’d block a play right, and the next play, we’d just mess it up.”

Clarke, a junior running back, had success running the football, totaling 137 yards on the ground on 24 carries. But Eudora failed to cross the Girard 30-yard line in the second half.

“We didn’t play well enough to win offensively, I can tell you that much,” Webb said. “I thought our defense would give up three touchdowns. But I really thought we’d score.”

And who wouldn’t have thought Eudora would score? The Cardinals averaged barely fewer than 40 points per game in the regular season. But Friday night obviously wasn’t the regular season.

“They slowed us down,” said Webb about his team’s 254 yards of total offense. “But a lot of that is just that we’re playing better teams. You get in the playoffs, and those teams are awful good. They make you do some uncharacteristic things. It was awfully frustrating.”

Girard 21, Eudora 14

Eudora 6 8 0 0 – 14

Girard 7 14 0 0 – 21

E – Mike Ortega 23 pass from Kent Swanson (run failed)

G – Darian Kelly 22 run (Tyler Bennett kick)

G – Kelly 33 run (Bennett kick)

E – Chad Krutz 9 run (Krutz pass from Swanson)

G – Kelly 5 run (Bennett kick)