By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Traditionally, Hayden football has been a run first offense.
But the Wildcats showed off their passing game Friday night on the way to wrapping up the Class 3A District 4 championship with a 50-16 romp past Perry-Lecompton on Senior Night at Hayden.
Senior Jett Wahlmeier threw for 240 yards and three TDs and also ran for a TD in Hayden's 50-16 win over Perry-Lecompton Friday night. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/TSN]
"I'm not going to let teams put eight guys in the box on us,'' Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. "I mean we've got way too many weapons that can catch the ball and we've got a quarterback that makes good decisions back there so we're going to take what they give us and that was pretty open.''
Hayden senior quarterback Jett Wahlmeier completed 15 of 18 pass attempts for 240 yards and three touchdowns as the Wildcats improved to 6-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the district.
"We all get excited when we call a pass play in the huddle and they all rally around me to get them the ball,'' Wahlmeier said.
"We just want to get better as a team and we've got to round out some rough edges. Obviously, this (a district title) is our goal every year and this is the first step to getting a state championship.''
Junior Kade Mitchell caught four passes for 122 yards, including a 61-yard TD, in Hayden's 50-16 district win over Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Senior Jensen Schrickel rushed for 59 yards on six carries and caught four passes for 54 yards, including a 24-yard TD, in Hayden's 50-16 win over Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Wahlmeier hit junior Kade Mitchell for a 61-yard touchdown, senior Jensen Schrickel for a 24-yard TD and senior Treyton Tetuan for a 21-yard score while also connecting with Schrickel for a 2-point conversion and scoring on a 21-yard run to key the Hayden rout.
Hayden capped its game-opening drive with an 8-yard Broderick Desch run (Schrickel 2-point conversion from Wahlmeier) and made it a 15-0 game early in the second quarter on a 3-yard run by junior Jude Krentz before making it a three-score game on Wahlmeier's long TD to Mitchell with 8:03 left in the first half.
Perry-Lecompton (2-5, 1-2) got on the scoreboard late in the half on a disputed 3-yard TD run by junior quarterback Garrett Metcalfe.
Metcalfe fumbled on the play and after a long discussion the officials ruled that Metcalfe had crossed the goal line before the ball came loose.
Metcalfe hit senior Eli Dean for a 2-point conversion to cut the Kaws' deficit to 22-8 but Hayden answered with Wahlmeier's 24-yard TD strike to Schrickel (Becker kick) with 45.9 seconds left in the half to take a commanding 29-8 halftime lead.
Wahlmeier's TD run boosted Hayden's lead to 36-8 with 3:47 left in the third quarter (Becker kick).
Then, after Perry-Lecompton got its second touchdown on a 7-yard run from senior Bronzen Rush on the first play of the fourth quarter, Hayden pulled away to the final margin with Wahlmeier's TD pass to Tetuan and a 44-yard interception return from junior Xander Blasing.
"Offensively we still haven't hit our stride I don't think,'' Arnold said. "There's still room to get to the ceiling. Defensively, I thought we played hard and we played pretty good. They (the Kaws) put you in some bad situations because they spread you out so wide.''
Becker went six of six on extra-point kicks and is now 38 of 38 on the season.
Schrickel led Hayden's rushing attack with six carries for 59 yards while Mitchell caught four passes for 122 yards.
Hayden will close out its regular season next Friday night with a district game at Jefferson West.
HAYDEN 50, PERRY-LECOMPTON 16
Perry-Lecompton (2-5, 1-2) 0 8 0 8 -- 16
Hayden (6-1, 3-0) 8 21 7 14 -- 50
Hayden -- Desch 8 run (Schrickel pass from Wahlmeier)
Hayden -- Krentz 3 run (Becker kick)
Hayden -- Mitchell 61 pass from Wahlmeier (Becker kick)
Perry-Lecompton -- Metcalfe 3 run (Dean pass from Metcalfe)
Hayden -- Schrickel 24 pass from Wahlmeier (Becker kick)
Hayden -- Wahlmeier 21 run (Becker kick)
Perry-Lecompton -- Rush 7 run (Graves pass from Metcalfe)
Hayden -- Tetuan 21 pass from Wahlmeier (Becker kick)
Hayden -- Blasing 44 interception return (Becker kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Perry-Lecompton: Rush 11-64, Kaniper 13-40, Metcalfe 6-17, Minnick 2-4, Dean 4-(minus)-3, Team 1-(minus)-12. Hayden: Schrickel 6-59, Desch 5-43, Wahlmeier 2-42, Mitchell 5-31, Krentz 1-3, Samich1-1.
Passing -- Perry-Lecompton: Metcalfe 13-24-1, 141 yards. Hayden: Wahlmeier 15-18-0, 240.
Receiving -- Perry-Lecompton: Dean 10-116, Baker 1-13, Graves 1-7, Rush 1-5. Hayden: Mitchell 4-122, Schrickel 4-54, Hanika 4-27, Tetuan 1-21, Desch 1-9, Heinen 1-7.
Punting -- Perry-Lecompton: Baker 4-34.2. Hayden: Wahlmeier 1-41.0.
