Eudora ? Eudora High football players will never forget their emotions during last week’s thrilling 60-59 double-overtime playoff victory.

But the Cardinals know they don’t have time to reflect on one of the most exciting games of their career. Not with Bishop Miege looming in the Class 4A-I state semifinals at 7 tonight at EHS.

“Going into this week, we’re preparing just like we have the rest of the year,” Eudora coach Phil Katzenmeier said. “But this is a really high-quality team that’s coming in here.”

Last week, the Cardinals (8-3) nearly saw their spot in the semifinals slip away. They led by 19 points with about five minutes remaining before Basehor-Linwood scored three unanswered touchdowns, tying the score with three seconds left before a bad snap on a PAT sent the game into overtime.

“That was an emotional roller coaster, especially for the kids and those guys on the field,” Katzenmeier said. “I think the fans felt like that, too. We should’ve learned a lot. There were a lot of life lessons and football lessons in that game.”

With the defending state champions coming into town, the Cardinals are ready to face one of their biggest challenges of the season on both sides of the ball.

The Stags (10-1) have scored more than 60 points in five of their last six games. In the playoffs against KC Piper and Paola, the Stags have won by a combined 126-26.

Bishop Miege sophomore quarterback Carter Putz, a Notre Dame baseball commit, leads the state with 2,835 passing yards and 34 touchdowns. Top receiver Jafar Armstrong has caught 58 passes for 1,161 yards and 15 scores.

“Their passing game, that’s what everybody talks about,” Eudora senior Tanner Beebe said. “But if it rains, it might weaken it. Then, of course they have a good running back. But I’m not too worried about it. It’s another game for 48 minutes. It’s another chance to compete.”

The Cardinals plan to fight back with their ground game, which has been strong all season with senior quarterback Grant Elston and running backs Austin Downing and Travis Neis. Elston has rushed for 2,062 yards and 28 touchdowns this season.

What makes their rushing attack so effective?

“I’m not really sure,” Neis said. “Our linemen get a pretty good push on them so our backs have somewhere to go and someone to follow.”

After losing all of their starting offensive linemen to graduation, the Cardinals started from scratch with Beebe, Ethan Leahew, Dallas Burdo, Matthew Buchhorn and Jacob Pearson.

“We basically worked every day. We bonded,” Beebe said. “We basically knew what to do. It was a refresher from our freshman year when we had coach (Greg) Webb here, and we ran the same offense. Once we got it down, we kind of remembered how to get it going again.”

The Cardinals have a tall task ahead to upset the top-ranked team in the state, but they learned last week that it only takes a few plays to change a game.

“It’s sub-state. We’re at home. It couldn’t get much better,” Beebe said.