Veritas Christian junior Jacob Reynolds, right, attempts to tackle a Wichita Sunrise Christian Academy ball carrier. Veritas Christian's senior night was spoiled on Thursday with a 38-20 loss to Wichita Sunrise Christian.

Veritas Christian high School senior Jeremiah Johnson (16) carries the ball against Wichita Sunrise Christian. Johnson had 41 carries for 228 yards and two scores in Veritas Christian's 38-20 loss to Sunrise Christian on Thursday.

It was not the way the Veritas Christian football team wanted to end the regular season.

But the Eagles chose a heck of a way to end the game.

Veritas played its second straight stellar second half Thursday and closed out its regular season – and the careers of six Veritas seniors – with a 38-20 loss to Wichita Sunrise Christian Academy.

The loss dropped Veritas to 3-4 on the season and into a three-way tie for the fourth and final spot in this year’s Kansas Christian Athletic Association playoffs. Veritas coach Doug Bennett said he would not know whether his team won the tiebreaker – and therefore earned the right to play Tuesday at St. Mary’s – until sometime today.

All the Eagles could focus on after Thursday’s loss was the missed opportunity to lock up the final playoff spot.

Sunrise opened the scoring with a 68-yard touchdown run 31â2 minutes into the game. A pass from Andrew Westerfield to Deandre Hicks for the two-point conversion gave the Buffaloes an 8-0 lead and opened the passing lanes for SCA.

By halftime, the Buffs had racked up 150 yards through the air, nearly 250 yards of total offense and enjoyed a 38-6 lead. SCA led, 38-0, at one point in the first half, but Jeremiah Johnson got the Eagles on the board with a five-yard TD reception from Nick Bennett with 29.5 seconds to play in the half.

If Sunrise’s two-point conversion got its passing game going, Johnson’s five-yard touchdown reception sparked his engine.

After carrying the ball 14 times for 77 yards in the first half, the senior running back went wild in the second half, finishing the night with 41 carries for 228 yards. Johnson added another 40 yards in the passing game to push his total to 268 on the night. The 228 yards on the ground were the second most of his career. The 41 totes were a career high and left Johnson worn out but with a huge smile.

“I like it until I get to the point until I feel like I’m actually dead,” he said.

That came late in the second half, after his 38th carry of the night. Not to worry. Sophomore Ethan Scott scored the Eagles’ final touchdown of the night on a 15-yard run with 1:34 to play. Scott’s TD followed two Veritas drives that stalled deep in SCA territory and preceded and onside kick recovery.

After a lopsided first half, the Eagles turned things around completely in the second half. They played harder, finished plays and looked more like the team leading by four touchdowns.

“We were just pumped up,” senior Victor Hardin said. “We thought that this could be our last game if we lost and that got us pumped up. I just wish we would’ve started earlier.”

The second-half shutout was the second in a row for Veritas, which blanked St. Mary’s in the final two quarters last week in a 14-6 loss.

“The guys just showed a tremendous amount of heart tonight,” Bennett said. “Our seniors are a great group of guys. Jeremiah’s been with us since the beginning of the program, and the other five guys (Hardin, Jon Smerchek, Neal Daniels, Daniel Metcalf and Jacob Oglesby) have only been with us a little while but have made a great deal of progress in a short period of time.”