Andover Central will play for a state title again thanks to a midnight film session
At midnight before the biggest football game of his life, Andover Central senior defensive back Jake Taylor was still awake watching film of McPherson’s offense and drawing their routes in a notebook.
Taylor estimated he watched 12 hours of film this week before a Class 4A semifinal clash on Friday in McPherson. A tendency he noticed was McPherson liked to run crossing routes as a decoy with the objective to throw back to the far side for a big play.
It was the only way Taylor knew where to be to make the game-saving play in the end zone to close out Andover Central’s 7-0 victory over McPherson to send the Jaguars (11-1) to their second state championship game appearance, where they will face Bishop Miege (10-2) in Topeka next Saturday.
“I’m just very passionate about playing football,” Taylor said. “I’ve been restricted with injuries, but I push through. This means everything to me. My dad is my coach and he coaches me up and he’s one of my biggest role models in my life.”
McPherson’s final attempt of tying the game came on a 4th and goal from the 7-yard line with under two minutes remaining. The Bullpups lined up three receivers to the right with Taylor matched up on the lone receiver on the left side.
McPherson quarterback Kaleb Hoppes took the snap and rolled to his right, an attempt to suck Andover Central’s defense to that side of the field and open up a throw-back for an easy touchdown.
Sure enough, the McPherson receiver broke free and was open when Hoppes made the decision to throw. But instead of following his receiver to the decoy side, Taylor swiveled his hips before the ball was even released to sniff out the play and bat the ball down in the end zone for the game-sealing play.
“(Taylor) is the biggest film-watcher on our team,” Andover Central senior linebacker Trey DeGarmo said. “He wrote down every single one of their plays and he will never tell anybody that, but he spends so many hours on that. He knew exactly what was coming and that’s why he made the play. He’s just a dog and he’s going to make every play like that.”
It was a devastating ending for McPherson, even more so because it was so familiar. It was the third straight season the Bullpups have lost in the state semifinals — all by a touchdown or less. McPherson has still never been to a state championship game in school history.
The latest chapter of bitter losses will be remember for McPherson’s three trips inside Andover Central’s 20-yard line with no points with the last being the most excruciating when the Bullpups could not capitalize on a 1st-and-goal from the 3-yard line in the waning moments of the game.
Still, McPherson coach Jace Pavlovich said he thought the team’s final play call was the perfect one — it was just a perfect defensive play by Taylor.
“We got the look that we wanted, but (Taylor) came off of his coverage and made a heck of a play on the ball,” Pavlovich said. “We had our opportunities. We had our chances.
“If you would have told me that defensively we put up the effort we did tonight to contain their big-play threats, then I would have told you we had a really good shot to win the game.”
Instead, Pavlovich and McPherson will try to wrap their minds around how they lost when their defense pitched a shut out and held Andover Central’s high-octane offense to 1.9 yards per play, 83 total yards and four first downs.
Special teams proved to be the difference in the game, as Andover Central went all-out for a punt block early in the second quarter and senior Tate Forcella ended up stripping McPherson’s punter and junior Kyren Parrott scooped up the loose ball and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown.
“I wanted to get the ball and get to the end zone,” Parrott said. “I was glad I was able to do that. It feels amazing to be able to let the seniors keep playing and keep making history.”
With its offense unable to sustain drives, Andover Central had to lean on its defense to absorb 76 plays — nearly doubled what the Jaguars ran. Even with McPherson throwing 39 times, Andover Central’s secondary allowed just 108 yards passing and 14 completions.
When the game ended and the teams had shaken hands, the Jaguars sprinted to their student section and hopped the fence to celebrate.
“I couldn’t control myself, we were so hyped up,” DeGarmo said. “We knew we could do this from the start, but now it’s here, it’s just so surreal.”
“I’m a pretty stoic guy, but this is a lot of fun,” Central first-year coach Derek Tuttle said. “I’ll probably even get a smile or two in later.”
| Andover Central (11-1) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 |
| McPherson (11-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
AC—Parrott 20 fumble return (White kick)
Rushing—Andover Central, Parnell 11-32, Herrmann 7-9, Rees 5-3, Team 4-(-4); McPherson, Feil 21-96, Hoppes 10-28, Ramey 3-5, Powell 2-(-1), Team 1-(-15).
Passing—Andover Central, Parnell 7-17-1-43; McPherson, Hoppes 14-39-1-108.
Receiving—Andover Central, X. Bell 5-33, Kohman 1-9, J. Bell 1-1; McPherson, Powell 11-82, Feil 1-13, Buckbee 1-8, Clarke 1-5.
This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 1:09 AM.
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