BY JIM MISUNAS
MCPHERSON – Great Bend’s Cooper Ohnmacht set a positive tone with a 91-yard kickoff return and Jace Schartz sprinted 79 yards to ignite a 28-6 non-league football victory over McPherson Friday.
Ian Premer freed Ohnmacht with a well-executed block.
“Cooper has electric speed,” said Great Bend coach Erin Beck. “That was a house call.”
Schartz finished with 141 yards on nine carries, but the rest of the Panthers gained 5 rushing yards on 15 carries.
“Our offensive line did a beautiful job on Schartz’s run,” Beck said.
Quarterback Daxton Minton rescued the Panthers’ offense with 10 of 13 passing for 108 yards. Premer caught a 2-yard touchdown reception from Minton. Minton caught a 5-yard scoring pass from Ohnmacht.
“Dax stayed calm and made throws in space,” Beck said. “We started unsettled, tight. Once we played our game, we were fine. We’ll get better and that’s exciting.”
McPherson responded with 77-yard scoring drive for a 6-6 tie. Quarterback Carter Allen directed a crisp scoring drive mixing running and passing that kept the Panthers off balance. Catch Delaney caught a 5-yard scoring strike from Allen.
Both teams missed extra points, leading to a 6-6 tie.
Minton directed a nifty scoring drive that started with Schartz’s 24-yard dash. Premer caught two passes and scored with 24 seconds left in the first half. Ohnmacht caught a 2-point conversion pass from Minton for a 14-6 lead.
The Panthers’ defensive front dropped Allen seven times for 54 yards in losses. Conner Holladay was a terror with 11 tackles and a trio of tackles for losses. Ensley contributed a pair of sacks with Brody Schnoebelen and Aidan Davidson (11 tackles) contributing sacks.
“Holladay, Brody Schnoebelen and Davidson picked it up,” Beck said. “Our outside linebacker Jacob Hall played his tail off and was all over the field defensively.”
Schartz opened the second half with his dazzling 79-yard touchdown run. Minton’s 7-yard touchdown reception from Ohnmacht closed out the scoring.
McPherson was limited to 52 yards rushing on 38 attempts. Allen lost 24 yards on 15 attempts. McPherson completed 13 passes for 113 yards. Chase Koehn had 44 yards receiving and Bishop Brown had 36 yards.
Great Bend 6 8 14 0 – 28
McPherson 6 0 0 0 – 6
GB—Cooper Ohnmacht 91 kickoff return (kick fails)
MC—Catch Delaney 5 pass from Carter Allen (kick fails)
GB—Ian Premer 2 pass from Daxton Minton (Omar Razo kick)
GB—Jace Schartz 79 run (Razo kick)
GB—Minton 5 pass from Ohnmacht (Razo kick)
RUSHING—GB—23-152; Schartz 9-141; Holladay 3-5; Premer 1-3; Birney 3-2; Ohnmacht 2-(-1); Minton 3-11. MC—Delaney 16-51; Becker 7-29; Koehn 1-1; Allen 15-(-24)
PASSING—GB—Minton 10-13-0, 98; Ohnmacht 1-1-0, 5; MC—Allen 13-23-0, 113
RECEIVING—GB—Ohnmacht 5-52; Premer 4-25; Jacob Hall 1-21; Minton 1-5
