By Fred Solis
The Hutchinson Tribune
ANDALE—The Andale High School Indians threw the Wichita Collegiate Spartans a bit of a curve Friday night as they padded their famous ground game with 153 passing yards that, good for three touchdowns in the Indians’ 49-6 win over the Spartans on homecoming night.
Andale quarterback Cruz Kaiser, who is also an outfielder and pitcher for the Indians baseball team, connected on 5 of 9 passes that netted two touchdown receptions for Jayven Dansel and one for Afton Allaire.
“That’s what they were giving us,” Andale Coach Dylan Schmidt said of the Indians’ passing game. “They were making it [the running game] hard because they were playing the safety more down in the box. So, credit to our coaches, especially Coach Joly, who’s our passing game coordinator.
“He said, ‘It’s there.’ So, we executed it well. Cruz threw it well and guys did a good job catching it. I was really proud of him,” Schmidt said.
The Indians still had 235 rushing yards in the game, which accounted for the balance of the lopsided scoring. Five Indians, led by Noah Stanley’s 77 yards, ran for 20 or more yards on the night.
Andale held the visitors to just 43 yards on the ground. Collegiate got 98 yards in the air, though, on 11-of-25 passing.
Andale took the opening kickoff and then patiently drove downfield on an 11-play drive that took nearly five minutes before Jrayton Dansel ran it in for the score at 7:12 in the first quarter.
Collegiate’s woes began almost immediately when their first snap sailed over the head of quarterback Landon Langston, who managed to fall on the ball on the Spartans’ own 10-yard line for a second-and-22.
Andale’s defense held and Collegiate punted. Kaiser then hit Jayven Dansel for a 57-yard pass and score at the five-minute mark for a 12-0 Andale lead. Jayven led Andale’s receivers with 94 yards on two catches.
The Indians’ next scoring drive was set up by an interception by Jrayton Dansel that gave them the ball on the Collegiate 23 at 11:06 in the second quarter. Two plays later, Kaiser and Jayven connected again for their second passing TD. The two-point conversion was successful for a 20-0 lead.
Andale got another takeaway on Collegiate’s next series when the Indians recovered a fumble on the Spartans’ 27. After picking up a first down to put the Indians on the Collegiate 3, Stanley punched it in and the two-point try was good for a 28-0 advantage with 10:22 to go in the first half.
The Indians extended the lead to 36-0 on a Kaiser-Allaire 22-yard connection at 7:38. About three minutes later, Kaiser’s 31-yard touchdown run put the Indians up 42-0, where the score stood at halftime.
Andale put the finishing touches on the game at 9:06 in the third quarter when Stanley ripped off a 59-yard scoring run for a 49-0 lead and a running clock for the remainder of the game.
Collegiate got its only score late in the third quarter on a 6-yard run by Langston. The extra-point try was blocked. The game was called at 7:07 in the fourth quarter with a steady rain and threatening skies.
“I was pleased with the effort,” Schmidt said. “That’s [Collegiate] a good team. They’re better than the record and they’re going to go win a lot of games.”
The Indians travel to Cheney on Friday, Oct. 2, for a 7 p.m. game.