Late pick clinches district title for Halstead

GARDEN PLAIN — Halstead defensive back Casey Kohr clearly recalled the moments leading up to his interception with 25.3 seconds remaining Friday night at Garden Plain. He recognized the Owls’ play and anticipated the receiver’s break to the left sideline.

“I tried to put myself in as good a position as possible,” Kohr said. “…The ball was in the air, and I had to go get it.”

Beyond that, Kohr’s memory is fuzzy.

“To be honest, it was so much an adrenaline rush, all I know is the ball’s in the air,” he said.

He was aware, though, that his interception with 25.3 seconds to go sealed Halstead’s 32-28 victory. The Dragons (8-0) clinched the Class 3A-District 11 title.

Garden Plain (7-1, 1-1) plays at Kingman (4-4, 1-1) on Oct. 29 and needs to win to advance in the 3A playoffs.

“(Kohr) just made a great play,” Halstead coach Jason Grider said. “It was an outstanding interception. Very athletic interception. Huge play for us.”

With 7:32 remaining and Garden Plain leading by four, Halstead turned the ball over on downs at the Garden Plain six. But the Dragons forced Garden Plain to punt after three plays and took possession again at the Owls’ 36.

Nine plays later, Halstead took the lead for good with 1:34 remaining on Layke Heimerman’s four-yard rushing touchdown. Heimerman had 129 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Heimerman’s contribution was crucial because Halstead running back Blake Beckett missed the game with a lower leg injury. His absence was a gaping hole because he averages 11 yards per carry and has 1,143 rushing yards.

But Halstead’s offense didn’t falter, thanks to the combination of Heimerman and quarterback Eli McKee.

“Even though Blake goes down, Layke is there to step up,” Kohr said. “He’s been a big hitter since he came in as a freshman.”

Heimerman continually lowered his shoulder to grind out a few more yards each carry.

“I think it took a half to get adjusted (to playing without Beckett),” Grider said. “I think I was gun shy more than the kids on my play calling.… How big was Layke Heimerman? We turned our big fullback loose and he rewarded us.”

McKee, an explosive and elusive runner, had two touchdowns and 258 rushing yards.

McKee scored the game’s first touchdown with 2:02 remaining in the opening quarter, but Garden Plain countered with quarterback Alex Becker, who threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Nate Pauly.

Becker had four passing touchdowns and 229 passing yards. He was 7-of-7 passing through the first three quarters.

In the final 1:27, Becker drove Garden Plain to the Halstead 30, completing three passes on the drive.

But that last pass to the three ended the Owls’ chance for the win.

“The kid just made a play,” Garden Plain coach Ken Dusenbury said of Kohr. “… We were driving. We felt good about it. They made one more play than we did.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 12:36 AM with the headline "Late pick clinches district title for Halstead."