MORAN — One week after a thrilling win that wasn’t secured until the final seconds, Marmaton Valley High made sure the outcome was decided much earlier this time around Friday.
The Wildcats cruised to a 34-0 halftime lead while thumping visiting Randolph Blue Valley 56-8. The victory improves the Wildcats’ record to 3-0 on the season.
And like its first two contests, including last week’s come-from-behind 46-42 win over Crest, Marmaton Valley did much of its damage on the ground. The Wildcats racked up 305 rushing yards.
Wildcat head coach Kent Houk chuckled at a recent Register description of his team’s running attack — we called it a “juggernaut.”
“Tonight, both of our running backs were juggernauts,” Houk said.
No single run typified Marmaton Valley’s ground dominance as much as Daylen Houk’s 50-yard touchdown run late in the first half, in which he broke five tackles en route to the end zone.
Houk, who also scored on runs of one and 41 yards in the contest, wound up with 163 yards on eight carries. Cole Becker rushed 15 times for 100 yards, including touchdown runs of nine, two and 30 yards. Becker’s 30-yard jaunt with 9:35 left in the fourth quarter ended the game, via Kansas’ eight-man mercy rule.
Ryan Smith accounted for Marmaton Valley’s other two scores, running in a 24-yard touchdown in the first quarter and opening the second half with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Sage Hall.
Smith rushed for 38 yards and passed for 41 more, completing 2 of 3 passes. Houk had the other reception for Marmaton Valley, covering 15 yards.
Becker led the way on defense with 14 tackles, followed by Carlos Gonzales with 10 and Daylen Houk and Nathan Smart with eight apiece.
“We’ve started out flat the last couple of weeks so we changed the way we prepared,” Coach Houk said. “We put together a nice drive to start the game. The interior of our offensive line did a good job and our backs were hitting the hole a lot harder than they had been.
“Our defense was really clicking tonight, too,” he continued. “We had four or five guys in on several tackles. The guys were really flying to the ball.”
Marmaton Valley hits the road for the first time in 2012 next Friday when it travels to Elk Valley.
Randolph BV 0-0-8-0—8
Marmaton Valley 8-26-6-16—56
MV — Smith 24 yd run (Smith run)
