Unbeaten Andover falls to Salina Central

ANDOVER – Salina Central, 4-5 entering Friday night’s game, looked like more successful Mustang teams of recent years in the Class 5A first-round game.

The Mustangs used a devastating ground game to roll up 416 yards and hand Andover its first loss of the season with a 48-12 victory.

The emphasis on rushing evoked memories of Salina Central teams of a decade ago under Marvin Diener, who is now at Gardner-Edgerton.

“They looked a lot like the old Central,” Andover coach Mike Lee said. “Very physical, they run right at you, and they get in your face on defense.”

Told of this, current Central coach Mike Hall chuckled.

“I guess that’s a good thing,” Hall said. “That’s really what we’ve done the last three games (victories over Great Bend, Hays and Andover), and it’s been effective for us.

“I’m a big believer in ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.’ And so that’s what we did.”

Senior Malik Veal led the way with 229 yards and four touchdowns. He has rushed for more than 200 yards in each of the past three games.

Salina Central (5-5) will play host to Kapaun Mount Carmel (9-1) next Friday in the quarterfinals.

“They physically whipped us,” Lee said. “We hung in there in the first half, and you can’t come out and go dead in the third quarter like we did – and they had a lot to do with that.”

Andover trailed 21-12 at the half, with all of the scoring coming in the second quarter.

Andover also had problems with Central quarterback J.W. Maldaner, who at 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, proved tough for the Trojans (9-1) to bring down. Maldaner rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown.

Part of the reason that Andover was in the game at the half was senior running back Steven Young. He rushed 13 times for 102 yards in the first half and finished with 127 for the game.

But the Trojans couldn’t quite get their offense to click at crucial times.

“You’ve got to make plays when you get a chance to make them,” Lee said. “We didn’t necessarily do that – especially in the third quarter. We were just giving the ball back to them over and over and over, and they were just wearing us down.”

Salina Central, on the other hand, kept up the ground attack.

“Physically, we were just worn out,” Lee said.

He said he tried to emphasize the positive aspects of the season to his team after the game.

“That’s what you just try to tell high school kids after the game,” he said. “They’re not going to think about it now, but down the road (they’ll) remember some really big games and really good games.”

SC – Veal 70 run (Robl kick)

A – Rasmussen 2 run (run failed)

SC – Veal 5 run (Robl kick)

SC – Veal 15 run (Robl kick)

A – Starks 55 pass from Rasmussen (pass failed)

SC – Veal 18 run (Robl kick)

SC – Maldaner 1 run (Robl kick)

SC – Rodriguez 14 run (Robl kick)

SC – Peters 1 run (kick blocked)

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Salina Central: Veal 20-229, Maldaner 18-69, Rodriguez 5-61, Peters 11-44, Wentzel 4-8, Eilrich 3-6, Gardner 2-1. Andover: Young 18-127,VanEpps 5-24, Rasmussen 7-13, Renoux 2-2.

Passing — Salina Central: Maldaner 3-3-0-17. Andover: Rasmussen 5-13-2-101.

Receiving — Salina Central: Kossow 2-7, Rayas 1-10. Andover: Nichols 3-39, Starks 2-62.

This story was originally published November 9, 2013 at 12:18 AM with the headline "Unbeaten Andover falls to Salina Central."