Late rally saves Heights in victory over Dodge City

Down 21-19 to Dodge City with 1:50 left in the game, the play call for Heights was a screen, in the left flat, to senior running back Trenton Autry.

He caught the ball around the line of scrimmage, the Heights’ 8-yard line, and looked up.

In front of him he saw a mountain of a man — 6-foot-5, 290-pound Heights offensive tackle Chris Ivy.

Autry knew that was all he needed.

“I was just running ... and anybody that crossed my face, they were going on the ground,” Ivy said. “That’s how bad I wanted to win.”

And with that, the two raced down the Heights sideline, together, leaving Red Demons in their wake. They wouldn’t stop until Autry was tackled at the Dodge City 10 and the Falcons wouldn’t stop until Tre King’s 3-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds left. One more stop by the defense sealed a thrilling, 26-21 come-from-behind win.

“I had my man Big Ivy out front, so I gotta trust him,” Autry said.

“You just trust your team, trust each other,” King said. “Trust the coaches, trust the calls ... trust you’re going to find a way to win.”

Heights (3-0) won on a night when the Falcons couldn’t seem to get their footing, in no small part because of a virtuoso performance from Dodge City quarterback Caden Walters, who threw for 303 yards, three touchdowns and also caught a touchdown pass for good measure.

“We did everything we could to win,” Walters said. “Every guy we had left everything out there on the field. It’s tough, but we can’t hang our heads.”

Heights, known for its ground game, stayed with Dodge City early thanks to its air attack and two first-half touchdown connections between senior wide receiver Arie Johnson and junior quarterback Garrett Haskins.

Johnson came wide open in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown on the first score. On the second, he caught the ball on a quick out route, stiff-armed a Red Demon defender to the ground and raced into the end zone from 33 yards.

“We don’t throw a lot, so you have to be patient,” Johnson said. “They call your name, you better answer.”

Dodge City took a 14-13 lead at halftime on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Walters to Eric Reid, then went up 21-13 in the third quarter on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Walters to Mark Adams.

Heights cut the lead to 21-19 on a 1-yard touchdown run by King with 5:42 left in the game, but failed on a run attempt by King on the two-point conversion.

Dodge City drove almost the entire length of the field on its next possession before turning the ball over on downs on a fourth-and-1 at the Heights 8.

The screen call that cracked the game open was something that Heights coach Terry Harrison didn’t have in his arsenal last year.

“Last year, at times we felt like in that situation in the game we didn’t have what we needed, so in the offseason we started working on adding things like that,” said Harrison, in his second year. “And they executed it perfectly.”

After King’s score, Dodge City took four shots downfield from its own 25 before time ran out and Heights’ players came streaming onto the field.

Haskins passed for 177 yards while Heights’ Armond McCray led all players with 116 rushing yards.

“Dodge City is a good team and their quarterback is a great player ... their crowd was like a playoff environment,” Harrison said. “Whatever happened, we stayed calm, and when we got the chance to win the game, we took it.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2014 at 11:58 PM with the headline "Late rally saves Heights in victory over Dodge City."