Down, but never out

When it came down to it, there was a crop of seniors who didn’t want it to be their last game.

They were battered, they were bruised, they were injured and they were all but defeated.

But they found a way. With the season on the line last Friday, Jhett Birdwell found Kasen Blair in stride for a 56-yard pass with less than a minute to play.

Two plays later, Blair scored on a 2-yard run for his third touchdown of the night. His two-point conversion pass to Birdwell on a trick play proved to be the final points in an improbable 43-36 victory at Lone Grove in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

“That’s one of the wilder games I’ve ever been involved in,” said KHS head coach Reagan Roof. “From the way it started to the way it finished, it was one of the crazier ones I’ve been a part of.”

It was Kingfisher’s first playoff win since 2022 when - ironically - the Jackets were victorious at Lone Grove.

And like 2022, the win earns KHS a trip to the quarterfinals against Lincoln Christian.

With under 2 minutes to play and then again with less than a minute to go, that trip appeared it might be taking place by the Longhorns.

The home team had just turned away a KHS scoring opportunity with an interception in the end zone on a 4th-and-13 play with 2:10 to go.

Up 35-28, any points would have given KHS a two-score cushion, but now the Longhorns had a chance to tie.

After going nowhere on their first two plays, suddenly the Longhorns struck gold.

Tatum Quinn found his best target, Elijiah Miims who turned a first down pass into much more.

After hauling in the completion, Miims broke multiple tackles then was off to the races for an 80yard touchdown.

With 1:44 left, Lone Grove coach Curtis Cole rolled the dice and opted to go for the win rather than a kick to tie the game.

He kept the ball in Quinn’s hands and his quarterback rewarded the gamble by running in the two-point conversion for a 36-35 lead.

A short kickoff out of bounds - more on the need for that later - gave the Jackets the ball at their own 35.

But it wasn’t long before the Jackets faced 4th and 15 from their own 41 with just 58 seconds to play.

As Birdwell took the snap, he had two options: Blair was running a post route and Brody Boeckman a wheel route.

After buying some time, Birdwell launched the ball toward Blair, his fellow senior.

“He threw a perfect ball,” Roof said.

Indeed, it hit Blair’s hands at the 13 yard line and Blair drug Scout Quinn all the way to the 3 before he was pulled down.

Two plays later, with 16 seconds to go, Blair scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.

Wanting to push it back to a seven-point game, Roof dug into his bag of tricks which was about empty by this point - for the two-point conversion.

The play saw Birdwell walk up to the line of scrimmage and the ball snapped to Brett Calamateo in the backfield. He ran left and pitched to Blair, who was headed from the left side of the line back to the right.

Birdwell had snuck into the end zone and grabbed Blair’s pass for the two points.

The Jackets then halted Lone Grove’s last-ditch efforts to end the game.

And as wild as the finish was, the beginning of the game gave it a run for its money.

Boeckman instantly gave the Jackets the lead when he took the game’s opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.

Lone Grove also got an excellent kickoff return and needed just a few plays to tie game on its 44-yard drive. Luke Stinson’s 3-yard run did the trick with 8:33 left in the quarter.

But, by 8:19, the Jackets already had regained the lead.

That’s because Blair took the next kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where we’ve had two kickoff returns for a touchdown,” Roof said. “Much less on the first two we received in a game.”

The Jackets hadn’t taken an offensive snap - nor had they scored with their defense - but led 14-7.

They wouldn’t get opportunities to return another as Lone Grove opted for pooch and squib kicks or - in the case of the last one of the game - just kicking it out of bounds.

The Longhorn offense put together another scoring drive and pulled within 14-13 with 5:11 in the first quarter on Stinson’s 4-yard scamper.

The extra-point kick missed, so KHS still had a one-point lead when it took its first offensive snap of the game at 5:08 of the first quarter.

That turned into a 62yard drive that saw Birdwell connect with Blair for a 1-yard touchdown pass.

With 1:43 to go in the first quarter, it was a shootout at 21-13.

However, the shootout stalled as neither team scored in the second quarter.

The Longhorns’ offense reemerged in the third quarter as they took the opening drive 52 yards into the end zone.

It was punctuated by a 19-yard scoring reception by Miims.

Quinn’s two-point run tied the game at 21-21 with 9:49 left in the quarter.

That started a back-andforth affair that lasted much of the rest of the game.

KHS countered with a 57-yard march and staked claim to the lead again on Blair’s 4-yard touchdown run.

He carried the ball twice in the game - for a total of 6 yards - and scored both times.

Back came the Longhorns as they tied it up again before the end of the third quarter on Quinn’s 1-yard keeper.

The Jackets’ next drive started in the third quarter, but ended in the fourth.

Calamateo capped it with an 8-yard run, one that gave the Jackets a 35-28 advantage with 9:36 to play. That score stuck until the game’s last two minutes.

“He’s turned into a heck of a running back,” Roof said of the sophomore, who toted it 20 times for 92 yards.

He also did it with - essentially - one arm.

Calameteo separated a shoulder in Kingfisher’s Week 9 loss at Anadarko.

He returned in the second half of that game and played last week in the win at Plainview.

“We can’t play him on defense and we can’t throw him the ball because he can’t really lift up his arm,” Roof said. “And it’s tough for him to block, but he’s finding a way and really running it hard.”

He’s one of several doing so.

“To be mostly healthy, we’re still pretty banged up,” Roof said. “We’ve got a lot of guys playing through a lot of injuries and a lot of pain.”

Blair suffered a hip pointer and Jackson Willbanks a strained calf in the first half at Anadarko. Neither returned that game, but both were on the field at Plainview and then made big impacts on Friday.

TJ Washington also turned an ankle late in the game at Anadarko.

Then, in the days leading up to the playoff matchup, underclassmen Collin Farrar and Carter Stephenson were fighting a serious bug that’s been making its rounds through county schools.

Farrar suited up at Lone Grove, but did not play.

Stephenson played on offense, defense and special teams.

“We had a lot of guys who had something to play for and they showed up,” Roof said That included Cale Reagan, a senior who anchors the Jackets’ defensive front on the end.

On Lone Grove’s first possession, Reagan went down with a knee injury.

His knee cap had popped out of place, a painful injury he’s suffered before.

“He didn’t have to go back out there, but he did,” Roof said. “He was hurting and he was limited, but he gave us everything he had.”

Reagan finished with four tackles and a sack.

Willbanks contributed 10 tackles, including two for a loss.

Washington and Izak Oaks chipped in with five stops apiece.Hayes White led the team with 12 tackles.

All are seniors. And so is Birdwell, who threw for 184 yards while running for 43 more and Rhett Schlegel, who made good on all five extra-point attempts.

And then there was Blair. “He had a hellacious game,” Roof said.

On defense, he contributed five tackles, one of them for a loss.

He punted once for 37 yards.

He had the kickoff return for a touchdown.

He had the two rushing touchdowns.

He caught six passes for 108 yards and a TD.

He threw the two-point conversion.

He was there to make the final tackle - along with Kaden Cline - just across midfield on the final play to seal the game.

While a visit to the topranked team in the class that’s won each of the last two state championships may not seem like much of a reward, Roof said reaching the quarterfinals means something for a program.

“I don’t think people realize how hard it is to win a playoff game in 3A,” he said. “This is maybe the toughest class there is. I know everyone thinks the class they’re in is the toughest one, but there is nothing easy about winning just one playoff game in this class.”