Trickery helps Halstead trip up Hesston in CKL duel

HALSTEAD – There isn’t a code name at Halstead for its fake-punt play.

They practice it every Wednesday, but there isn’t a name for it. Probably because coach Jason Grider has never used it during a game in his time at Halstead.

But when a fourth down arrived early in Friday’s Central Kansas League clash with Hesston, Grider decided to call “punt fake” for the first time.

Maybe he’ll come up with a better name for it after using the play twice to steal the momentum in Halstead’s 18-6 triumph over Hesston.

“We block it like we block any other play,” Halstead senior Blake Beckett said. “We haven’t ever ran it before, but we knew what we were doing. We knew where the open hole would be. We were prepared for it.”

Beckett, the talented lead tailback for Halstead, lined up as the left up-back ready to block for the punt. Instead, the ball was snapped directly to him and the play transformed into a sweep with two pulling blockers barreling to the right side.

The first time the play worked, on fourth-and-5 with 3:37 in the first quarter, Halstead scored on its next play, a 63-yard burst from fullback Tony Morris, for the opening momentum swing.

The next time, again on fourth-and-5, was the finisher. Beckett was sprung for 11 yards to extend a drive that eventually drained more than eight minutes in the fourth quarter and ended with Beckett scoring for an 18-0 lead.

For Grider, explaining why he called a play he never has twice in one game was simple.

“Dance with who brought you here,” Grider said. “As many times as we can get the ball in Blake Beckett’s hands, good things happen.”

It was true, as Beckett turned 26 carries into 122 yards and two scores. Halstead controlled the ball for two-thirds of the game, thanks to 62 rushes for 325 yards and 17 first downs. Morris and McKee added 88 yards apiece.

What separated the teams was their ability to finish drives.

While Halstead converted two drives longer than eight minutes into touchdowns, Hesston ran 34 plays in Halstead territory before scoring on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Zach Esau to Levi Caffrey with 38 seconds left.

That’s because four Hesston drives ended in Halstead territory without points, including two trips inside the 5-yard line. Hesston turned the ball over on downs the first time, then lost a fumble with a chance to come within a score of Halstead.

“It’s frustrating during the game when it happens,” Hesston coach Clint Rider said. “But when you look back on it and reflect after the game, I think we played well enough to win the game but they just made more plays.”

In a game between two skilled teams, McKee, Halstead’s quarterback, pointed to how the fake punt play might have provided the slight advantage Halstead needed to win the game.

“It pays off,” McKee said. “It’s as all simple as that: practice pays off.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Trickery helps Halstead trip up Hesston in CKL duel."