Conway Springs wins battle of CPL unbeatens with Trinity Academy

CONWAY SPRINGS — Baby Bull. It’s a fitting moniker that Conway Springs senior Luke Fisher has been tagged with by his team. When he runs, he will run over anyone in his way.

Sometimes it seems he’s even looking for someone to run through when he could use his speed to race past defenders.

“We call him Baby Bull, but he’s power and fast,” Conway Springs lineman Logan Creek said. “You can’t get any better than that. He may not be the fastest, but he’s got some power behind him. If you’re in his way, he does not care. He’ll go straight through you.”

Fisher used his physical running style and speed Friday night. He had 266 rushing yards and five touchdowns in Conway Springs’ 42-21 win over Trinity Academy.

Conway Springs, ranked second in Class 3A, improves to 6-0 overall, 6-0 in the Central Plains League. Trinity, ranked fourth in Class 4A-Division II, is 5-1, 5-1. Conway has a one-game lead for the league title and still has three more league games, while Trinity is finished.

“They just knew what was at stake, and they came out and got it done,” Conway Springs coach Matt Biehler said.

There were times when Trinity seemed to have Fisher stopped, but then he would pop out of the pile and pick up more yards. Or he would push forward for another three.

“I like to keep my feet moving, drive for the extra yardage,” Fisher said. “The line makes it work for me.… I like running up the middle, lower my shoulder, try to knock people over.”

Midway through the second quarter, Fisher ran at Tyler Burns, Trinity’s star, and Burns bounced back a yard or two.

The matchup of the two backs, the Central Plains League’s best, was one to watch as they faced each other frequently from their defensive positions.

“He’s a really good athlete,” Fisher said. “I like matching up with him on defense. Our defense did a good job trying to stop him. He made some good runs. He’s a good athlete.”

Burns had touchdown runs of 74 and 30 yards, finishing with 212 rushing yards on 17 carries. He also had touchdowns of 69 and 27 yards called back due to penalties.

Fisher has 1,234 rushing yards and Burns has 1,058.

The 69-yard touchdown run that was called back came late in the first quarter and would have been the game’s first score. After the penalty, Trinity was forced to punt.

A critical difference between Trinity and Conway Springs was Travis Wood, who added 128 rushing yards on 16 carries, while Trinity failed to get its passing game going.

“We’ve been happy with our defense all year with the way they’ve been playing,” Biehler said. “Both defending the pass and the run.”

Trinity quarterback Matt Jones was 5-for-15 passing for 63 yards with an interception.

“We didn’t help Tyler out a whole lot tonight,” Trinity coach Jared McDaniel said. “It was kind of a one-man show.… We didn’t play too well.”

The interception by Conway Springs senior Luke Ebenkamp in the final 30 seconds of the first half was huge.

The first half was scoreless as Trinity forced Conway Springs to turn it over on downs on its first two possessions. Fisher scored the game’s first touchdown with 9:21 to go in the second quarter, one play after Wood’s 54-yard run to the 25.

The Cardinals recovered the onside kick and scored nine plays later, using two Trinity encroachment penalties inside the 15.

With Conway Springs leading 21-7, Trinity got to the Cardinals’ 49 in the final minute of the first half.

But Ebenkamp intercepted Jones and returned it 53 yards for the score.

“That was a 14-point swing right there,” McDaniel said. “We go into that drive just needing to score, and we come out with a turnover and a TD. It’s just a mistake, and you can’t make those.

“… It was like we said going in, you can’t make mistakes going against Conway. We turned the ball over. We had penalties. You can’t do that against those guys.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2014 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Conway Springs wins battle of CPL unbeatens with Trinity Academy."