It was difficult to tell whether Eudora coach Gregg Webb was kidding when he told Evan Cleveland to go to the hospital and get an IV after Saturday’s game against Jeff West.

The star quarterback carried the ball 34 times for 220 yards in Eudora’s 23-16 victory.

The win gave the Cardinals the regional championship, and for Cleveland and the rest of the Eudora seniors, a moment they won’t soon forget.

“This win means more to me than any other game in my career,” Cleveland said, eyes welling with tears. “I wanted this more than anything.”

Jeff West opened the scoring with a 31-yard field goal by Alex Baker midway through the first quarter. Eudora’s offense stalled on its first two possessions but was able to get on the board with 4:30 remaining in the half after Cleveland pounded in a five-yard touchdown.

“We knew we would be able to run the ball on them,” Webb said. “At first we just weren’t blocking right. Then we got it going in the second half.”

With 4:16 remaining in the contest, the Tigers tried valiantly to mount a comeback, scoring once to bring the game to 23-16, and nearly tying the game with just seconds left, but a resilient Eudora defense forced and recovered a fumble near its own goal line to secure the victory.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Webb said. “We shouldn’t have let them back in it, and we messed up some, but they lived to play another day.”

Eudora will host Paola on Friday.