By Fred Solis
Hutchinson Tribune
ANDALE—The 10-0 Andale Indians notched their 96th straight home victory with a 21-0 playoff win over 3A foe Cheney last Friday that was also good for another regional championship.
All Andale’s scoring came in the first half, with one touchdown in the first quarter and two in the second.
Andale, the No. 1 seed in the west, will host No. 4 Hoisington (8-2) Friday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the sectional playoff game. Hoisington was a 26-20 winner over No. 13 Clay Center last Friday.
“There’s something magical about it,” Andale coach Dylan Schmidt said of the team’s home winning streak. “We’ve been able to just gut them out and figure it out, and we’re close to 100 wins on this field in a row.
“I think it’s 2013 or something [since] the last time we’d lost. So, there’s something special about it,” he added.
Part of that magic last Friday was the Indians’ defense, which kept the visitors out of the end zone and held the Cardinals to 83 yards rushing and zero yards passing.
“Our defense played unbelievable, giving up 0, and I was proud of specials,” Schmidt said.
Andale took the opening kickoff at their own 20 and used a huge 36-yard Cruz Kaiser-to-Jayven Dansel pass to move the ball to the 43. Kaiser was 5-of-15 in completed passes for 89 yards. Brayden Spexarth was the game’s leading receiver, with 44 yards on two catches.
But Andale had their work cut out for them against Cheney, once they worked the ball to the Cardinals’ 4 for a first-and-goal.
Cheney stiffened up and stopped Andale on three successive run plays, before Kaiser rolled to his left on fourth down and made a last-second pitch to Noah Stanley, who fought through a defender for the score at 5:23 in the opening quarter.
“I thought the [Dansel] catch was big, though. We were kind of backed up out there and we’d catch a bomb there for 36 yards, and then we got a fourth down there and we run a little option and we scored on it,” Schmidt said.
“It was one of those deals where to get some early scores on the board there and kind of grind it out,” he said.
The Indians forced the Cardinals to punt on their first possession, and it looked like Andale was set up for a relatively easy score, when they fielded the ball at their own 49. But the drive, hurt by penalties and pressured incomplete passes, stalled at the Cheney 28, where the Cardinals took over on downs.
More penalties marred Andale’s next possession, but they overcame them and went up 14-0 on Kaiser’s 6-yard run to the end zone at 7:31 in the second quarter.
Kaiser was the game’s leading rusher with 76 yards on 16 carries, while Stanley ran for 51 yards on 10 carries, Afton Allaire picked up 38 yards on 11 touches, Jayven Dansel had 34 yards on 10 carries and brother Jrayton collected 28 yards on seven carries.
Following a Cheney punt, Andale mixed passing and running plays, including a 25-yard-plus dash by Stanley, to drive from their own 43 to a first-and-goal at the Cardinals’ 4. Three plays later, Dansel capped off the drive with a 1-yard score to put Andale up 21-0 with 2:14 to go in the first half.
Austin Bugner was a perfect 3-for-3 in point-after attempts.
Cheney’s next possession was cut short, when Kaiser picked off a pass at 1:22, but Andale ended up turning the ball over to Cheney on downs at the Cardinals’ 32 with 24 seconds left in the second quarter.
Andale’s next scoring opportunity came in the fourth quarter, when they took over on downs at the Cheney 23. But penalties pushed the Indians backwards, and they were forced to punt on fourth and 24.
“I wasn’t happy about the penalties,” Schmidt said of Andale’s seven infractions on the night for 64 yards.
Andale got another takeaway moments later, when Emmett Eck stepped in for an interception at the Indians’ 40-yard line at 4:28 in the fourth quarter. The Indians had to overcome two more penalties and convert on fourth-and-one to keep the drive alive, but time expired before they could add to the score.
“We knew coming in, it was going to be absolute barn-burner all the way to the end,” Schmidt said. “Credit to them [Cheney]. They got a great team, and so for our kids to do what they did defensively and across the board, I’m really proud.”
