HUMBOLDT — A promising start for Humboldt High’s homecoming showdown against Cherryvale quickly turned sour in a 47-31 loss to the Chargers.
Cherryvale opened the contest with a strong drive, primarily on the efforts of running back Tristan Thornton, which ended in 1-yard touchdown.
The Cubs responded with a 51-yard pass from Alex Murrow to Caleb Vanatta over the middle for a touchdown. Vanatta’s kick nailed the upright, however, keeping the Cubs at six.
The second quarter warmed up for the home team. Murrow connected for two touchdown passes, one to Hunter Murrow for 21 yards and another a 45-yard pass to Jacob Carpenter to the end zone. The scores put the Cubs ahead 18-14 with just over six minutes in the half.
Thornton struck again, as the burly fullback capped a productive Charger drive in the end zone. He added insult to injury with a pick six off of Alex Murrow’s pass in Cub territory.
Just like that, Cherryvale led 28-18 at halftime.
Cherryvale scored on the initial possession of the third quarter, but the Cubs bounced back with a touchdown-culminating drive courtesy of Alex Murrow.
But the Chargers returned the ensuing kickoff 66 yards for a touchdown. An extra point put the Cubs down 41-24 with five minutes remaining in the third.
A final third-quarter push from the Cubs put Vanatta in the end zone yet again on a 3-yard run.
Cherryvale’s Kaden Housel had the final word — a 13-yard touchdown to seal the deal.
“I was proud of our kids for their effort the entire night,” Head Coach K.B. Criss said. “We kept fighting through adversity and we never gave up.”
Adversity may be an understatement. The Chargers hammered the Cubs on the ground, and responded nearly every time the Cubs tried to rally. Cherryvale rushed 53 times for 358 yards (they possessed the ball 28 minutes, compared to Humboldt’s 16). Thornton rushed for 197 yards on 23 carries. The Cubs’ defensive line was unable to hold the ground game.
“Hats off to Cherryvale, their kids played hard and were physical,” Criss said.
The Cubs rushed 25 times for 114 yards. Alex Murrow completed 11 passes for 223 yards on 19 attempts.
Jacob Carpenter rushed 11 times for 82 yards, and Vanatta had 8 carries for 41 yards.
Hunter Murrow led in receptions with five grabs for 98 yards, followed by Vanatta with two receptions for 63 yards and Carpenter with three receptions for 59 yards.
Defensively, the Cubs allowed 398 total offensive yards from the Chargers. Kason Siemens had nine unassisted tackles, as did Jayce Schomaker; Rhett Smith had seven.
The Cubs host Caney Valley Friday.
Cherryvale 7-21-13-6—47
Humboldt 6-12-13-0—31
Cherryvale Humboldt
First Downs 13 6
Rushing 53/358 25/114
Passing-yds 6/40 19/223
Total yds 398 337
Passing 2/6 11/19
Fumbles 0 1
Punting 1/29 1/37
Chargers bring end to Humboldt winning streak
