Chaparral nears playoff berth with win over Cheney

Cheney entered its Class 3A-District 9 matchup against Chaparral with the weight of the postseason on the Cardinals’ shoulders.

That means the very real possibility that, come next Friday when Cheney plays Belle Plaine ... it could be one of those times where the only thing on the line is pride.

Chaparral (7-1, 2-0) made that much closer to Cheney’s reality, riding a stingy defense and a big game from quarterback Shawn Nulik to a 21-0 win.

“The first quarter we really were not that good” Nulik said. “Going into the second half our coach gave us great advice. We just needed to fix the little things.”

Conway Springs faces Belle Plaine on Saturday night in District 9 play. If Chaparral does advance to the postseason, it will have its defense to thank.

Chaparral held Cheney to 140 total yards, forcing four turnovers and stopping multiple Cardinal drives on fourth-down attempts. On the flip side, it was a fourth-down conversion of their own that sparked the Roadrunner offense.

With the game scoreless at the 6:48 mark in the first half, the Chaparral special teams took the field to punt after Cheney’s defense thought they forced a three-and-out at midfield.

Chaparral up back Jaden Helms took a direct snap and was swarmed by the Cardinal defense. Falling to the ground, the 270-pound senior nimbly pitched the ball back to punter Ethan Francis who ran for the first down. A few plays later, Nulik found Adam Clark on a 9-yard touchdown pass to put the Roadrunners up 7-0 just before the intermission.

“We have worked on that a few times and there have been a couple of times were I have fallen down in practice,” Helms said, grinning. “I saw our punter Ethan Francis and I just thought I’d go for it.”

Those points were all the Roadrunners would need, as their defense did the heavy lifting the rest of the way, frustrating Cheney quarterback Austin Wheelock and stopping the Cheney run game cold.

Nulik would add a second touchdown pass with 6:49 left in the third quarter to Roger Clark to push the lead to 14-0. The senior signal caller finished the day with 205 yards of total offense and two touchdowns — he also made all three of Chaparral’s extra-point attempts.

This story was originally published October 25, 2014 at 12:51 AM with the headline "Chaparral nears playoff berth with win over Cheney."