Rawlins County blanks Macksville

Macksville, Kan. (Catch it Kansas) - The Rawlins County Buffaloes defeated the Macksville Mustangs 46-0 in the Regional round of the Eight-man Division I playoffs.

The game took place an hour earlier due to the long trip for the Buffaloes to get to and from Macksville.

Rawlins County came in with a 7-2 record while the hosts Macksville had not lost a game all season with a 9-0 record.

About an hour before the game began, a cold rain began to fall. The rain would continue to fall throughout the game.

Macksville won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Rawlins County elected to take the football first.

The Mustangs kicked the ball off first and it rolled to the one-yard line. Drew Withington picked the ball up and carried it forward. He found a few holes and broke some tackles. He ended up running the full 79-yards for a touchdown. Ryan Sramek rushed with the ball to get the two-point conversion. With only 11 seconds off the clock, Rawlins County led 8-0.

After a quick three-and-out, Rawlins County scored again. This time Jayden Reed carried the ball across the goal line. Reed also scored the two-point conversion to make the score 16-0 with 9:31 left in the first quarter.

Reed scored the next touchdown to give the Buffaloes a 24-0 lead going into the second quarter.

Halfway through the second quarter, Rawlins County found themselves backed up on fourth and 14 from the Macksville 24-yard line. Drew Withington rolled out and found an open Kenneth Micek in the end zone for a touchdown. It was one of the few completions in the wet conditions of the day. Jayden Reed ran in the two-point conversion to make it 32-0.With four minutes to go in the third quarter, Jayden Reed scored the next touchdown. Reed carried the ball into the end zone from 14-yards out. He also ran in the two-point conversion. The Buffaloes now led 32-0.With about a minute to go in the quarter, Jayden Reed capped off the game and night with a fourth touchdown to make the score 46-0.The game finished due to the 45-point mercy rule.

”We’ve really been playing well over the last few games, at the right time of the season,” said Rawlins County Head Coach Aaron Sramek. “Our guys really stepped up tonight.

”That kickoff return is huge in these conditions. We wanted to force them to make plays and we did well. We are more of a running team, which helped us in these conditions.”Macksville sees their season end with a 9-1 record.

Rawlins County continues to the sectional round and will face Wichita County next Friday.