Eagles win in thriller

Now play Rossville for bid to state

"It ain't over, 'til it's over!" Yogi Berra once delivered these now famous words; however, as fans were leaving the SLHS football field on Friday, this same phrase could be heard echoing throughout the parking lot.

The cause for this mindset was that the Eagles had just pulled off their biggest comeback of the season, beating Cherryvale in sectional play, 34-24. However, the Eagles' chance to move on to the next round of post-season play looked dim as they trailed the Chargers 24-0 at halftime.

Junior running back Kyle Steele said that during halftime, he tried to dismiss how the game had been going so far and focus on scoring in the second half.

"At halftime, we needed to put the score behind us and go out to try to be perfect. The defense needed to step it up, that was a big thing. I had a sense of urgency; we needed to get some points on the board," he said.

And that was just what he did. To start the second half, Steele ran back the 94-yard kickoff for the Eagles' first touchdown of the game. Steele hoped that it would be enough to help the Eagles clinch a victory.

"That was a big turning point and momentum builder. We needed to make big stops on defense in order to keep the momentum going our way. If we were able to get that done, I was confident that we could be successful," Steele said.

The play that finally put the Eagles in front was a fourth and second down pass from junior quarterback Dale Kruger to senior Chris Wichman which he caught on the 2-yard line. From there, Kruger was able to run the ball in on a quarterback sneak.

"Dale was about to get sacked and he scrambled out, and I was just standing there with a short guy in front of me, so he threw it up, and I caught it right by the sidelines," Wichman stated.

He felt that after the last touchdown, he was sure Silver Lake would come out with a win.

"I was excited because I knew that we had put them away, and we had come back from so much and won the game," he said.

Since Silver Lake and Rossville both won their sectional games, they now face each other for another sub-state "War on 24" showdown this Friday at Silver Lake starting at 7 p.m. Both Wichman and Steele said they are pumped up for the game.

"I'm pretty excited. The seniors picked the team word as 'tradition' before the season started. We feel like it's a tradition to play Rossville to go to state," Wichman said.

"I am defiently excited to play Rossville for the second time this year. We need to take the momentum we got from this game. I have a lot of confidence going into the 'War on 24,' and I think we should be all right," Steele said.

Sub Navigation

• College Scholarship Information
• Students of the Month

Top