By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
An eighth straight Rossville victory appeared highly unlikely on the road Friday night when the Bulldawgs trailed top seed and undefeated Jackson Heights 31-14 at the start of the fourth quarter and 38-21 with five and a half minutes remaining.
But three touchdowns over a span of just 1 minute, 27 seconds did the trick, with Rossville rallying for a dramatic 42-38 win to advance to next Friday's Class 1A sub-state (semifinal) round.
Rossville senior quarterback Tayson Horak passed for four TDs and ran for the game-winning score in Friday's 42-38 road win at Jackson Heights. [File photo/TSN]
Now 8-3 on the season, the Bulldawgs took their only lead of the night on a 6-yard run by senior quarterback Tayson Horak (Vincent Daniel kick) with 3:07 left and Rossville was able to keep the Cobras out of the end zone the rest of the way to close out the win.
Rossville will be on the road again next Friday, traveling to Centralia to face the 10-1 Panthers, a 46-14 winner over Pittsburg Colgan.
Jackson Heights (10-1) struck first against Rossville, just 18 seconds into the game, but a 4-yard Andre Johnson TD run (Daniel kick) knotted the score at 7-7 at the 7:21 mark of the opening quarter.
The Cobras took a 10-7 lead on a 25-yard field goal late in the first and scored back-to-back TDs to take a 24-7 lead with two minutes remaining in the first half.
Rossville junior Mahki Jackson (15) scored a pair of TDs in Friday's 42-38 come-from-behind playoff win at Jackson Heights. [File photo/TSN]
Rossville got back within 10 points on a 25-yard pass from Horak to Mahki Jackson (Daniel kick) with just 16 seconds left before the intermission but Jackson Heights scored the only touchdown of the third quarter late in the period to go back in front by 17.
Horak and Jackson hooked up again early in the fourth quarter, this time on a 35-yard TD (Daniel kick), but the Cobras answered with a 6-yard TD to go up 38-21 with 5:30 left.
That's when Rossville turned the tables in a big way.
Fifty-six seconds after Jackson Heights' final score Horak hit Jack Donovan for a 39-yard score (Daniel kick) and after recovering an onsides kick the Bulldawgs were back in the end zone 20 seconds later on a 17-yard Horak pass to Kameron Badura (Daniel kick) to claw within three points.
Rossville junior Vincent Daniel went six of six on extra points Friday night, helping the Bulldawgs take a 42-38 win over Jackson Heights. [File photo/TSN]
After recovering another onsides kick Rossville quickly found the end zone for the game-winning score, a six-yard run by Horak with 3:07 left. Daniel kicked his sixth straight extra point of the night to give the Bulldawgs their final margin.
EISENHOWER 44, SEAMAN 14 -- Seaman's outstanding 2024 season ended on the road Friday night, with No. 2 Class 5A West seed Eisenhower rolling to a 44-14 win in Goddard.
Seaman ended its season 8-3 while Eisenhower improved to 9-2 while earning a berth in the sub-state round to host Hays (7-4) next Friday. Hays, the No. 9 West seed advanced with a 28-0 win over Hutchinson.
Seaman was still in the hunt through the first half before Eisenhower pulled away in the second half.
Unofficially, the Tigers out-gained the Vikings by a 442-267 margin, including a 308-169 margin through the air and a 134-98 edge in rushing yardage.
