LJWorld.com

Tonganoxie — Three turnovers in its final three possessions cost Tonganoxie High’s football team dearly in a 25-22 loss to Kansas City Piper on Friday night.

The setback in the Chieftains’ second district game killed the team’s postseason hopes.

In the final nine minutes at Beatty Field, Tonganoxie (5-3) had three possessions while trailing the Pirates (6-2) by just three points, but each one ended with a Piper takeaway.

The first came in the red zone on an option pitch right. THS junior quarterback Jeremy Carlisle was tossing the ball to senior DJ Lindsay when a Piper defender got a hand on the pitch, and PHS recovered the fumble.

After Tonganoxie’s defense forced a punt, with just under 2:30 remaining, Carlisle hit Lindsay for an eight-yard pass, but Lindsay fumbled, and Piper recovered.

Tonganoxie’s defense again held its ground to give the team one final shot.

With 99 yards of field between the Chieftains and the end zone, and less than a minute to go, Carlisle threw up a pass for Lindsay on first down that was intercepted at Tonganoxie’s 30-yard line.

THS coach Mark Elston thought the game would come down to turnover margin, and he couldn’t have been more correct.

It was the second straight difficult loss for Tonganoxie (after losing 28-27 in double overtime at Basehor-Linwood the week before). Elston said this loss was especially tough because the players had poured so much effort into the past two weeks.

“They don’t have much to show for it other than moral victories, and I don’t think moral victories were what we were after at this point,” Elston said.

Like all of his teammates, Carlisle was bummed after the loss.

“I feel absolutely horrible,” he said. “I know those guys would do anything for me, and I’d do anything for them. To know I had two of those last three turnovers is just horrible because they don’t deserve that. This team doesn’t deserve that. If I could go back and redo it, in a heartbeat I would.”

Tonganoxie trailed the entire game, but a 45-yard TD run by senior back Austen Holloway with 10:54 to go in the fourth quarter put THS in position to come back.

Since Basehor-Linwood defeated Kansas City Ward, 34-21, on Friday night, the Chieftains will not be eligible for the postseason.

Tonganoxie’s season wraps up on Thursday with a trip to Ward.

Kansas City Piper 7 12 6 0 — 25

Tonganoxie 0 14 0 8 — 22

P — Jasper Sanders 2 run (Dustin Yantzi kick)

P — Sanders 73 run (kick failed)

T — Dylan Faulconer 9 pass from Jeremy Carlisle (Amos White kick)

P — Sanders 23 run (conversion failed)

T — Faulconer 8 pass from Carlisle (White kick)

P — Sanders 6 run (Conversion failed)

T — Austen Holloway 45 run (DJ Lindsay run)

Baldwin 36, Perry-Lecompton 21

Baldwin City — After a 0-6 start to the season, Baldwin has turned the season around. The Bulldogs qualified for the Class 4A playoffs with a victory over Perry-Lecompton.

BHS held the Kaws scoreless in the second half.

“We’re sitting 2-0 right now and we’re feeling good,” Baldwin coach Mike Berg said. “The kids played so hard, and I’m so proud of them.”

The Bulldogs racked up 498 yards of offense on the Liston Stadium turf. They rushed for 421 of those yards as juniors Ryan Rogers and Josh Hoffman did most of the damage on the ground.

“I’m so excited,” Rogers said. “It’s a really big relief to make the playoffs after the beginning of the season we had. We would have lost this game earlier in the year, because of the way we started. We fought back and won the game.”

Baldwin will host Eudora on Thursday to decide the district title. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Liston Stadium.

Perry-Lecompton 14 7 0 0 — 21

Baldwin 6 15 7 8 — 36

P-L — Luke Kellum 13 run (John Mehl kick)

B — Josh Hoffman 3 run (Hoffman kick fail)

P-L — Trent Robb 70 run (John Mehl kick)

B — Will Von Bargen 1 run (Ryan Rogers run)

P-L — Brad Phillips 43 reception from Seth Steward (John Mehl kick)

B — Camdon Schwartz 33 reception from Von Bargen (Hoffman kick)

B — Rogers 1 run (Hoffman kick)

B — Sam Foye 1 run (Von Bargen run)

De Soto 35, Spring Hill 0

Spring Hill — Dylan Burford returned the opening kick 92 yards for a touchdown, and he was just getting started.

Burford gashed the Spring Hill defense for 99 yards rushing and two more touchdowns on the ground by halftime. Burford finished with 162 yards and four total touchdowns.

Quarterback Daniel Peterson completed seven passes for 81 yards.

De Soto (4-4, 2-0) will play Roeland Park Miege for the district championship Thursday at De Soto.

De Soto 14 7 7 7 — 35

Spring Hill 0 0 0 0 — 0

D — Dylan Burford 92 kick off return (Josh Pasley kick)

D — Dylan Burford 1 run (Pasley kick)

D — Dylan Burford 44 run (Pasley kick)

D — Jon Hastings 13 pass from Daniel Peterson (Pasley kick)

D — Dylan Burford 1 run (Pasley kick)

Eudora 61, Santa Fe Trail 14

Eudora — The Cardinals received a breakout game from sophomore Chris Pyle, as he rushed for 159 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns. Fullback Boomer Mays added three touchdowns.

Evan Cleveland completed four of seven passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.

Eudora (6-2, 2-0) will play Baldwin on Thursday at Baldwin.

Santa Fe Trail 0 0 0 14 — 14

Eudora 14 19 21 7 — 61

E — Boomer Mays 1 run

E —Boomer Mays 7 run

E — Chris Pyle 9 run

E — Chris Pyle 25 run

E — Boomer Mays 35 run

E — Reece Long 20 pass from Evan Cleveland

E — Brian Katzfey 68 punt return

E — Chris Pyle 26 run

S — Jesse Bahner 28 pass from Alex Dahl

E — Coty Stoneking 8 run

S — Jesse Bahner 61 pass from Alex Dahl

Oskaloosa 37, Jefferson North 0

Oskaloosa — Brandon Barnes had 20 rushes for 207 yards and two scores, and Mark Newell had 12 carries for 106 yards and another TD for the Bears.

Jefferson North 0 0 0 0 — 0

Oskaloosa 14 16 7 0 — 37

O — Mitch Boucher 6 pass from Adam Bowser (Brandon Barnes run)

O — Barnes 6 run (conversion fail)

O — Barnes 11 run (Bowser pass from Barnes)

O — Boucher 15 pass from Bowser (Barnes run)

O — Mark Newell 51 run (Cody Green kick)

Pleasant Ridge 48, McLouth 12

Pleasant Ridge — Pleasant Ridge bolted to a 42-0 halftime lead and was never challenged.