Maize beats Bishop Carroll in fourth quarter thriller

MAIZE, Kan. (Catch it Kansas) - A battle between two top teams in class 5A came down to the last 30 seconds, with Maize junior star quarterback Avery Johnson scoring the game-winning touchdown to lead the Eagles to a 28-21 win over Bishop Carroll to advance to the state sectionals.

Maize erased a 14 point deficit in the second quarter, scoring 21 unanswered points to take a 21-14 lead with 10:25 left in the game.

“I am very proud of these guys. We got down 14 points but we kept battling and we were down 14-7 at half time and we just told them seven points is nothing,” Maize Head Coach Gary Guzman said. “We knew we could come back and we still had a chance to win this one.”

With 6:02 left in the 4th quarter, Bishop Carroll’s backup quarterback Jackson King led the Golden Eagles down the field and finished the scoring drive with a pass to Matthew Holthusen to tie the game at 21 all.

But with less than a minute to play, Johnson would show exactly why he’s one of the nation’s top dual threat quarterbacks, scoring his fourth rushing touchdown of the night to keep the Eagles season alive.

“The offensive line was just opening holes and I was hitting the creases and they just made it easy on me,” Johnson said. “I rarely have to make a guy miss, it’s just hit a hole and I’m off to the races. When my line makes it that easy for me, on the stat sheet it looks like I did a lot better than I actually did.”

Maize will host Hays (8-2) next Friday with a trip to the 5A sub state on the line.

Bishop Carroll’s season comes to an end with a record of 7-3.

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