Free State's Khaury El-Amin pushes away a Manhattan defender on Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, at Manhattan.

Manhattan ? There wasn’t any champagne in Free State’s locker room or fireworks in the sky after Friday’s game against Manhattan, but that didn’t mean the celebration was any less spirited for the Firebirds. They clinched a spot in the playoffs.

The Firebirds dominated early and held tough against the Indians in the second half to pull away in a 35-14 rout at Bishop Stadium.

From the opening drive, the Firebirds were ready to roll on offense. They marched for a methodical 16-play, 79-yard scoring drive that took more than eight minutes. Junior running back Khaury El-Amin converted on two fourth downs, and the drive ended with an eight-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Bryce Torneden to senior receiver Tye Carter.

“It was a great drive,” FSHS coach Bob Lisher said. “We did use eight minutes, but I’ll take 30 seconds if you score a touchdown. I don’t care. As long as we score and finish, I’m happy. But, obviously, that kind of relieves a little bit of pressure on our defense, too.”

Torneden didn’t slow down his arm after his first touchdown toss. On the second drive, he found senior receiver Joel Spain over the middle for a 55-yard touchdown strike and added another score, finding Carter for the second time, on the third drive for a five-yard touchdown. Torneden finished 8-for-13 through the air for 135 yards and three touchdowns.

“That’s all coaching,” Torneden said. “That’s just strategy. We put that in just for this defense, because they run a two-high (with their safeties). So we just penetrated that middle (of the field), and it worked really well.”

Carter added: “We always get our running game going, but then we never really get our passing game going. So we’re trying to balance it out more and hit them with play-action. That worked out well tonight.”

The Indians didn’t give their home crowd much to celebrate until a roughing-the-passer penalty gave them second life in the red zone near the end of the first half, and they scored with 14 seconds left — a one-handed snag by sophomore running back Keadrian McDonald for a 16-yard touchdown.

Manhattan also went down the field and added a touchdown on its first drive of the second half, a 46-yard throw from quarterback Eric Prockish to tight end Jake Olson, helped by a pass-interference penalty on a previous fake punt.

With Manhattan (6-2) cutting the margin to just seven points, the Firebirds (5-3) proved their offense can step up and finish drives in big situations. Torneden found senior receiver Andrew Keating for a 17-yard pickup on third-and-10, and El-Amin broke a few tackles on a fourth-and-one for a 21-yard gain. Two plays later, Torneden broke a few tackles for a 19-yard touchdown run.

“Coaches … they just kept harping us, ‘We’ve got to handle adversity. That’s what good teams got to do,'” said Torneden, who ran for 114 yards and a score. “I’m glad we pulled it out.”

The Free State defense picked it up from there. Senior linebacker Carson Bowen stopped a Manhattan drive with a sack, and sophomore cornerback Zack Sanders added an interception, which he returned inside the red zone and led to a nine-yard touchdown run by El-Amin.

Sanders, who started picking up playing time about a month ago, also added another interception in the final three minutes. He credited coach Adam Barmann, Torneden and senior cornerback Spain, who added his own interception in the final minute, for preparing him for his big plays.

“It’s just a crazy moment. I couldn’t describe it,” Sanders said. “It was the greatest moment of my life.”

The Firebirds will head to Topeka High next week for the top spot in District 5 and home-field advantage, but for at least one night, they are happy to celebrate a playoff berth.

“It’s really nice because we’ve worked four years for it,” Carter said. “Now that we’re finally here, it’s just awesome. All the work we put in this year alone, it’s just all paying off, and it feels great.”