Conway Springs methodically puts away Garden Plain

Travis Wood found a better way to alleviate Conway Springs’ desperation.

The Cardinals only think about passing in dire situations, and they faced one Friday night, trailing Garden Plain by a point and staring at third-and-11 on the opening series of the third quarter.

Wood found no receivers, so he made the play with his feet – a much more comfortable option in Conway Springs’ single-wing offense. He picked up 10 yards; the Cardinals got a first down on the next play and scored five plays after that, setting in motion a systematic, methodical 25-7 win.

Wood’s scramble highlighted a less-pronounced approach for Conway Springs, which totaled 103 points over its first two games. The Cardinals (3-0) had few long plays, but their ability to sustain lengthy drives wore down Garden Plain in the second half.

“That was a big play,” Conway Springs coach Matt Biehler said. “We’re looking at third and (long), and we tell our kids never to give up on the play. He made a great effort there, then that gives us an opportunity for a short gain (on fourth down).”

Wood was nearly stopped in the backfield, but he eluded several tackles and maneuvered several cutbacks to keep the play alive.

A stop by Garden Plain (1-2) would have again accomplished for the Owls the method they used to survive the first half, limiting Conway Springs’ offense but not always containing it.

Instead, the Cardinals made a trend out of what could have been a temporary breakthrough after they scored on their final series of the first half, a 14-play drive that covered 77 yards in more than six minutes.

Wood’s run during the first drive of the second half was one of 12 plays that collaborated to put Conway Springs ahead 12-7. The Cardinals scored in 12 more plays on their next series and on seven plays later in the fourth quarter.

“I knew we had to just keep the momentum,” Wood said. “I wasn’t going to go down. I just wanted to get it for our team. Up and down the board, all of our players are like that. They have that mentality.”

Spanning the end of the second quarter to the middle of the fourth, Conway Springs was on offense for 45 of 54 plays, with the Cardinals’ defense holding Garden Plain without a first down in that stretch.

Absent Friday were the plays that help teams score more than 100 points in two weeks. The Cardinals started the second half with a 12-yard run, and 28 of their next 30 plays didn’t go that far.

Many of the tough yards were earned by Luke Fisher, whose four touchdown runs totaling six yards contrasted his 54-yard dash on the Cardinals’ first play of the night. Fisher finished with 150 yards, Wood 128.

“We’re a good duo,” Fisher said. “We run up the middle, right through the gut, and go outside. We do a little of both, and we’re both good at it.”

Garden Plain never got back in the game because even though the Owls’ offense was fresh from long bouts of inactivity, Conway Springs’ defense was, too, and neither team was the same after Wood turned a broken play into a big play.

“I’m sure everybody in the state wants to get them in third-and-long,” Garden Plain coach Brad McCormick said. “We did that a couple times, we just didn’t do a good job of keeping them contained. We were outside on the play, he just ended up cutting it back. Sometimes a scramble play is the best play.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2014 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Conway Springs methodically puts away Garden Plain."