On Friday, Oct. 16, the Sabetha Bluejays took on the Royal Valley Panthers in a match-up in which the winner would claim the district title.

The opening coin toss was won by the Bluejays, who elected to defer their decision to the second half, giving the Panthers the first opportunity with the ball. On the Panthers’ seventh play from scrimmage, senior Curtis Fitzgerald laid out a ferocious hit that jarred the ball out. Junior Collin Montgomery was able to fall on the ball, giving Sabetha’s offense the ball on their own 32-yard line.

It didn’t take long for Sabetha to make something happen, as senior Lincoln Menold took the handoff and somehow wiggled out of what appeared to be a sure tackle, breaking through the defense for a 68-yard touchdown run. After a pre-snap penalty from Royal Valley, Sabetha elected to go for the two-point conversion, with a handoff to Menold pushing the score to 8-0 as he found the end zone.

Royal Valley’s ensuing drive found themselves in no-man’s-land as they had a fourth and 11 that they had to go for. As some pressure came in from senior Ian Deters, the quarterback was forced to throw and his pass ended up falling incomplete. This gave the Bluejays the ball on their own 37-yard line.

The Bluejays took their time on their next drive, running the ball every single play. The longest play of the drive was a 14-yard rush as senior quarterback Micah Lang bounced outside and picked up a first down on a crucial third down. After getting down to the one-yard line, Lang took the snap and followed Deters right into the end zone. With the extra point, the score was 15-0.

Neither team got much offense going the rest of the half, as both teams had to punt just before halftime arrived.

Sabetha’s offense came out firing in the second half, as Lang quickly found sophomore Hudson Scoby for a 30-yard gain down the seam. That play eventually led the Bluejays to the one-yard line once more, with Lang taking the snap from under center and punching in another touchdown, pushing the score to 22-0.

The Bluejays’ defense quickly got another stop, giving the ball back to their offense. Lang quickly took advantage of the Royal Valley defense, breaking away for a 25-yard touchdown run as the score moved to 29-0.

As the time in the game dwindled away, Lang found himself faced with yet another goal-to-go situation. As he took the shotgun snap, he headed straight behind the offensive line, finding the back of the end zone one final time. Just before the game ended, Royal Valley was able to find the end zone as a run broke for about 30 yards, getting the Panthers on the board as the final score was 36-8.

The leaders for the Bluejays were Lang and Menold. Lang finished with 91 yards on the ground that included four touchdowns. Menold ended the game with 176 yards and a touchdown, with the touchdown coming off of a 68-yard rush. Menold also tallied nine tackles. Defensively, senior Holden Edelman racked up 12 tackles.

The Bluejays’ next match-up will be against Horton on Friday, Oct. 23, at Horton.