Andover Central wins shootout with Campus
HAYSVILLE – Andover Central’s Tom Audley has been coaching high school football long enough to remember when high-scoring shootouts were rare and one or two touchdowns often yielded a victory.
Those days seem like they’re gone for now. But Audley’s Jaguars continue to flourish amid the madness.
“I don’t know if we can continue to do this every week,” Audley said after Andover Central outlasted Campus 44-34 on Friday to improve to 5-1. “We’ve just got to get more balance in what we’re doing offensively and defensively.”
Andover Central, No. 5 in Class 4A-I, found enough of both in the second half to foil a strong upset bid from Campus. The Jaguars finished with 496 yards – including 226 on the ground from senior running back Jordan Birch – and limited Campus to seven second-half points.
“We were able to put together a pretty solid first half, and then we just built on that through the second half,” Birch said. “Our line stepped up big tonight and (quarterback) Peyton (Huslig) had a great game throwing. Our line was solid and it’s pretty easy to feed off them when they’re playing well.”
Andover Central, which defeated Valley Center 54-31 in its opener and lost to Maize South 51-41 two weeks ago, was forced to match Campus’ firepower on Friday. Campus quarterback Colby Leeper completed 21 of 37 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns.
Leeper hit senior Blake Miller in stride for a 76-yard touchdown late in the second quarter to give Campus a 27-20 halftime lead.
“We’ve had our struggles, but we’ve had times like these,” said Leeper, whose team fell to 2-4. “Tonight, it definitely clicked more.”
But so did Andover Central. The Jaguars took a 14-7 lead in the first quarter with two touchdowns in 12 seconds. Wide receiver Darraja Parnell raced 65 yards with a shovel pass to tie the score at 7. After Campus fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Huslig and Parnell connected on a 28-yard touchdown on the following play.
The Jaguars finished with three one-play scoring drives.
“It definitely gives us a confidence boost that if we’re down a touchdown or two, we know we can come back quickly,” Birch said. “It definitely takes some pressure off of us.”
The Jaguars shut out Campus in the third quarter to take a 34-27 lead. Birch helped Andover Central stay ahead with 153 second-half rushing yards, including a 34-yard touchdown run.
“We were just trying to mix it around,” Audley said. “We thought we had a good chance to run the ball, and our line helped us do that.”
Andover Central | 14 | 6 | 14 | 10 | — | 44 |
Campus | 7 | 20 | 0 | 7 | — | 34 |
C—Schley 6 run (Rogers kick)
AC—Parnell 65 pass from Huslig (C. Schoonover kick)
AC—Parnell 28 pass from Huslig (C. Schoonover kick)
C—Leeper 9 run (Rogers kick)
AC—Birch 5 run (kick failed)
C—Johnson 13 pass from Leeper (kick blocked)
C—Miller 76 pass from Leeper (Rogers kick)
AC—Birch 34 run (C. Schoonover kick)
AC—Parnell 42 pass from Huslig (C. Schoonover kick)
AC—C. Schoonover 20 FG
C—Johnson 32 pass from Leeper (Rogers kick)
AC—Anthemides 56 pass from Huslig (C. Schoonover kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing—Andover Central, Birch 35-226, C. Schoonover 3-11, Huslig 6-(-14). Campus, Schley 19-95, Harbour 1-37, Coe 3-6, Leeper 12-6.
Passing—Andover Central, Huslig 9-14-273-2. Campus, Leeper 21-37-344-1.
Receiving—Andover Central, Parnell 6-179, Anthemides 2-75, Birch 1-19. Campus, Johnson 8-151, Miller 3-89, Moody 6-68, Wiseman 2-19, Hill 1-12, Childers 1-5.
Top performers
Rushing
Jordan Birch, Andover Central35-226
Passing
Colby Leeper, Campus21-37-344
Peyton Huslig, Andover Central9-14-273
Receiving
Darraja Parnell, Andover Central6-179
Blake Miller, Campus3-89
Isaac Anthemides, Andover Central2-75
This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Andover Central wins shootout with Campus."