Andover gets past Kapaun

Andover coach Mike Lee insisted his team play a physical brand of football against Kapaun Mount Carmel on Friday night at Cessna Stadium. After all, the Trojans were in need of a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

“We were always physical, every single down, every single play,” Andover senior Garrett Farha said.

The Trojans controlled the line of scrimmage and controlled the clock as they defeated Kapaun 24-21.

Andover (6-2) is 1-1 in Class 5A-District 5 and plays host to Emporia, which is 0-2 in 5A-5. Kapaun (5-3) is 1-1 in district play and finishes its regular season next Friday at Heights, which has clinched a berth in the 5A playoffs.

Andover can qualify with a win and a Kapaun loss. Kapaun can qualify and eliminate Andover with a win. If both lose, a points tiebreaker would determine the second district berth between Kapaun, Andover and Emporia.

“Coach made us realize we lose this, our senior year is over,” said Andover quarterback Coen Rasmussen, who threw two touchdown passes. “… We kind of took it to heart.”

Senior Dante Butler agreed.

“We came in ready to play, and we just tried to kick their butts off the ball,” Butler said. “It’s what we tried to do the whole time.”

Andover was on its heels, though, as Kapaun drove to the Andover 32 on the game’s first series. But then Kapaun lost 2 yards, was penalized five yards on a procedure call and threw an incompletion.

The critical play came on third and 17 when Butler sacked Kapaun quarterback Brock Monty for a nine-yard loss.

“It was huge,” Butler said. “It was a momentum shifter.”

Kapaun was forced to punt.

Three plays into Andover’s drive, the Trojans snapped the ball well over Rasmussen’s head. But he made a heady play and somehow managed to not only gain seven yards but got the first down. Three plays later, Farha ran 46 yards up the right side for the game’s first score.

“Coen’s a gutsy player,” Lee said. “I wanted to get the ball in his hands as far as running the ball a lot tonight. We knew this would be a physical fight, and he’s a physical kid. That was a busted play. He made a lot out of nothing.”

Andover’s second possession started with a 48-yard carry by Jake Dusenbury and was capped by Rasmussen’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Eli Renoux for the 14-0 lead with 10:01 to go in the second quarter.

Farha finished with 99 rushing yards while Rasmussen had 76, Cole Van Epps 73 and Dusenbury 65.

“You’ve got to give a shout to the (offensive) line,” Butler said. “They pushed them, they were getting physical with them. They pushed them back far enough to have the holes.”

Farha added: “Our offensive line was getting huge pushes. We were making huge holes and big plays.”

Kapaun found success on the ground midway through the second quarter, and Monty scored on a 35-yard run with 5:38 to go.

But with Andover leading 14-7, the Trojans milked all but seven seconds of the first half’s final three minutes before Tommy Fiszel hit a 26-yard field goal for the 10-point lead.

Being down two scores, “that was a problem,” Kapaun coach Dan Adelhardt said.

So was Andover’s two third-quarter drives that used all but three minutes of the clock. The first drive ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Rasmussen to Butler for the 24-7 lead.

“We couldn’t get off the field,” Adelhardt said. “We told them, ‘we have to get off the field.’ They’re not very dimensional, but they do what they do well.

“Hats off to them.… We’d tackle them too high, and they’d get a couple extra yards. We’d get them in the backfield, and we’d try to shoulder tackle.”

Kapaun made the final nine minutes interesting, though. Facing fourth and six from its seven, Monty found freshman Nick Channel on the left sideline. Channel spun away from a defender and went 93 yards for a touchdown.

Monty had 156 passing yards and 109 rushing.

The Crusaders got the ball back two minutes later and got to the Andover 22 before fumbling. With 1:50 to go, Monty scored his second rushing touchdown from seven yards out to get within 24-21.

But Andover was able to run out the clock.

“The thing we talked about was at some point you need to get this,” Lee said. “We really appealed to our seniors. You’ve been through this whole thing, (playing) Carroll, Salina Central, Salina South, Heights. This was their chance to make their mark.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2014 at 12:55 AM with the headline "Andover gets past Kapaun."