K-State’s Jake Waters goes zombie hunting in Wildcats’ win

AMES, Iowa – Jake Waters blamed himself for squandering early chances to help Kansas State bury Iowa State. And when the Cyclones rose from the dead to take a 15-point lead, it was Waters who led the Wildcats’ zombie hunt.

Jake Waters: Zombie Killer.

Waters, an Iowa native who was playing in front of more than 30 family members and friends, led a comeback that resulted in a 32-28 win for K-State.

The Wildcats scored 10 points before the sellout crowd at Jack Trice Stadium had tucked away their ticket stubs. It was 13-0 with 4:20 left in the first quarter and it really should have been 21-0 had Kansas State not been forced to settle for two field goals instead of touchdowns.

The Cyclones, who gave up 34 unanswered points to North Dakota State last week after jumping ahead 14-0, could have been blamed for planning a pity party.

Instead, Iowa State ignited like a brush fire on the dry prairie. Jarvis West, a 5-foot-7, 171-pound senior with more moves than U-Haul, took over the game. And he was a spectacle.

First, West caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Sam Richardson. Then he returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown, zooming past K-State defenders who appeared to marvel more in his quickness than try to run him down. Then West threw a perfect 29-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard, who made a nice catch in the back of the end zone.

West’s trifecta doesn’t pay at the track, but it startled K-State, which had fallen behind 28-13 before a late first-half touchdown — a huge score for the Cats during which Waters led an 84-yard charge — slowed the Wild West Show.

Waters wanted this one. He wanted it bad. And he said he didn’t care if he had to run on every play to make it happen.

For the record, Waters did not run on every play. He did, however, run 20 times.

“More than I ever have in any game I’ve played, I’m sure,” he said.

He also passed it 29 times, completing 16 for 239 yards. He and senior Tyler Lockett made good on six completions for 136 yards, including a 57-yard bomb on the game’s fourth play during a time when it looked as if K-State could name its score.

Waters gained 138 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns. He took the biggest hit of the day, though, on a failed two-point conversion with 8:01 to play that left the Wildcats with a 28-26 deficit.

Waters did not walk a straight line to the K-State bench after being crunched by Iowa State cornerback Kamari Cotton-Moya, whose delicate-sounding name is not indicative of the vicious hit he made on Waters.

Iowa State, it turns out, had a couple of chances to finish off K-State.

The first stalled on fourth-and-13 at the ISU 47-yard line, when the Cyclones were forced to punt. They got the ball back again, still clinging to the two-point lead, and moved nine yards to their own 43. But on third-and-1, smallish back Aaron Wimberly was knocked back for a three-yard loss and the Cyclones again had to punt.

Whatever happened to smashmouth football? If Iowa State picks up a measly yard there, with 3:08 left, K-State probably would have been forced to use its final timeout and the Cyclones would have had a great chance to run out the clock.

Instead, ISU coach Paul Rhoads turned to trickery to gain the yard. Power formations are dying in football. If you’re a fullback, you might as well take up rugby.

OK, I’m off that rant.

K-State got the ball back at its 20 with 3:01 left and Waters went to work, the way so many outstanding K-State quarterbacks have done it over the years.

It’s not just his right arm that makes Waters dangerous, it’s those wheels. He can move and he picked up 51 yards on the ground during K-State’s fateful final drive.

He also connected with Lockett for 23 yards and handed the ball to tailback Charles Jones for another six.

“Jake really took control of that last drive,” K-State receiver Curry Sexton said. “The way we’re taught, you’re never down and out. The way this program is built – maybe some of the younger guys thought that – but those of us who were here in 2011 and 2012, and especially in 2011, this seemed to happen in every game. But we usually found a way.”

Where there’s a Waters, there’s a way. He was uncharacteristically demonstrative all day, but especially after Iowa State went from down 13 to up 15 in just 15 minutes.

“I just wanted to win so bad,” Waters said. “I guess I showed a side of me today that really hasn’t come out before. Every game is important with all the work we put in, but this is one we had to win.

“To not bury them early was frustrating. I checked to some plays that I’d like to have back in the red zone early on there. We threw three straight passes when we were running well. But I learn from it and every play there’s something for me to learn. We could have driven down and scored three touchdowns and that would have been big. But I’ll take the win.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2014 at 6:12 PM with the headline "K-State’s Jake Waters goes zombie hunting in Wildcats’ win."