Kevin Folsom comes off bench to lead Northwest to victory over Dodge City
DODGE CITY – As Dodge City defensive end Noah Williams raced 80 yards to the end zone, as he put undefeated Northwest in a 21-14 hole midway through the second quarter, Kevin Folsom started to move.
Northwest’s senior quarterback limped past his teammates on the sideline, telling them to pick their heads up. He walked toward coach Steve Martin and delivered a request that sounded a lot like a command.
“Coach, I’m good,” Folsom said. “Put me in.”
Martin listened. And with that, Folsom came off the bench and rallied Northwest to a 52-33 win to open Class 6A-District 8 play with 267 passing yards and four touchdowns on a partially-torn left medial-collateral knee ligament suffered last week against South that he feared may have ended his high-school career.
“I didn’t know if I would ever get this feeling again,” Folsom said. “I told (Martin) I was ready. I told him call my number and whatever my leg was able to do, I’d use it to help us win.”
The win improved Northwest to 7-0 and sets up a showdown with undefeated Garden City next Friday at Northwest.
“That’s my guy,” Martin said. “Kevin Folsom is the heart and soul of Northwest football, and he gutted us to a win tonight. You could see the guys, you could see their chest pumped up with air a little more when Kevin came in.”
Trailing 21-14 after Williams intercepted Jacob Devereaux and returned it for a touchdown, Folsom threw back-to-back touchdown passes to Alex Bott and Antonio Joyner to tie the score 28-28 at halftime, then connected with Bott on back-to-back touchdown passes of 88 and 50 yards in the third quarter to put the Grizzlies up 45-31.
“To have your senior quarterback come back in like that, on a hurt knee, means a lot,” Bott said. “We weren’t allowing any negativity when we got down, we wouldn’t have it.”
Northwest’s defense also had to overcome Dodge City’s wild offensive attack. Quarterback Caden Walters completed 36 of 64 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns. Northwest answered by forcing four turnovers.
“You better have your cardio right when you face (Walters),” Northwest linebacker Brandon Shook said. “They’re going to put the ball all over the place.”
Northwest also had a pair of 100-yard rushers in Jahlyl Rounds (138 yards) and Joyner (127 yards). Joyner also rushed for two touchdowns.
“We put a lot on our offensive line tonight,” Martin said. “We were gashing them with the run early, then we asked them to keep Kevin’s jersey clean in the second half. Whatever we needed, they did.”
Northwest | 14 | 14 | 17 | 7 | — | 52 |
Dodge City | 14 | 14 | 3 | 2 | — | 33 |
NW—Joyner 5 run (Deckinger kick)
DC—Walters 3 run (McGroarty kick)
NW—Joyner 26 run (Deckinger kick)
DC—Adams 12 pass from Walters (McGroarty kick)
DC—Williams 80 interception return (McGroarty kick)
NW—Bott 10 pass from Folsom (Deckinger kick)
NW—Joyner 28 pass from Folsom (Deckinger kick)
DC—McGroarty 18 pass from Walters (McGroarty kick)
DC—McGroarty 25 FG
NW—Deckinger 23 FG
NW—Bott 88 pass from Folsom (Deckinger kick)
NW—Bott 50 pass from Folsom (Deckinger kick)
DC—Safety
NW—Rounds 26 run (Deckinger kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing—Northwest, Rounds 21-138, Joyner 21-127, Folsom 1-(-1), Devereaux 2-(-1). Dodge City, Trent 10-0, Walters 13-45, McGroarty 2-27.
Passing—Northwest, Devereaux 2-7-18-1, Folsom 12-17-267-0. Dodge City, Walters 36-64-328-1.
Receiving—Northwest, Bott 7-136, Mullins 2-14, Reynolds 2-28, Joyner 1-28, Rounds 1-29. Dodge City, Adams 6-45, Reid 8-70, McGroarty 10-98, Unruh 5-73, Trent 5-8, Hatfield 2-34.
This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Kevin Folsom comes off bench to lead Northwest to victory over Dodge City."