KANSAS - This was supposed to be Myron Cline's night.
The 77-year-old Cline, who started the cross country program at Lakota in 1966 and in matter of five years coached the Raiders to the boys team state title, was honored in a pregame ceremony here Friday. Among the many tributes for Cline, who also coached basketball and track at the school, was an announcement that the 46th annual Lakota Invitational cross country meet set for today will forever bear his name.
But the main event Friday night was football and in that endeavor, Calvert posted all the distance numbers of importance on the way to a 53-7 in the Midland Athletic League opener for both.
The Senecas piled up 489 yards in total offense while limiting the Raiders to 64. Along the way, Calvert put up three big-play scores from scrimmage and added another via special teams.
It was the ultimate turnaround from a week ago, when Woodmore handed the Senecas a 17-7 defeat.
"Unfortunately, we had to learn the hard way," Calvert coach Todd Fox said after his club improved to 2-2 overall while dropping the Raiders to the same mark.
Fact Box
Calvert 53, Lakota 7
Calvert720197 - 53
Lakota0007 - 7
First Quarter
C - Brad Iannantuono 28 pass from Eric Elchert (Michael Smith kick), 7:10
Second Quarter
C - Tyler Long 57 run (Smith kick), 8:50
C - Daniel Kwiat 9 run (Smith kick), 3:33
C - Long 1 run (kick failed), :00
Third Quarter
C -Long 4 run (run failed), 6:09
C - Austin Ball 40 run (run failed), 2:10
C - Brendan Deats 5 run (Smith kick), :06
Fourth Quarter
L - Tiger Jaso 15 run (Ed Racheter kick), 4:20
C - Ball 70 kickoff return (Smith kick), 4:06
CL
First downs216
Rushes-yards35-28035-64
Passing yards2090
Comp-att-int13-20-00-8-1
Punts-ave1-288-34
Fumbles-lost1-12-0
Penalties-yards12-1396-74
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Calvert - Long 11-113; Kwiat 8-40; Ball 6-76; Deats 6-21; Tim Puesey 4-30. Lakota - Jaso 16-78; Kody Brewer 7- (minus-24); Racheter 6-4; Albert Guerra 4-6; Mason Wagner 1-0; Jordan Jaso 1-0.
PASSING: Calvert - Long 12-19-0-181; Elchert 1-1-0-28. Lakota - Brewer 0-8-1-0.
RECEIVING: Calvert - Derek Herzog 5-87; Nick Warnement 4-57; Iannantuono 2-38; Elchert 2-27.
"I don't want to take anything away from that team a week ago, but ultimately, we had to learn a lesson," he said. "We had a good week of practice and we learned that what you do in practice shows up on Friday night."
What showed up first was a little trickery that led to the first of eight Seneca touchdowns. Calvert used five different ball carriers in the game's first six snaps and advanced to the Raider 20 before a couple penalties pushed the Senecas back.
On fourth down from the 28, punter Eric Elchert appeared set to pin the Raiders deep. Instead, the left-hander tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Brad Iannantuono for a 7-0 edge.
"It's just something we decided to try," Fox said. "We had actually been prepping it for a while now in practice and we just decided 'Let's do it.'
"The last time we played here, (Elchert) was our starting quarterback, so he's beaten them twice," Fox said. "He does a nice job of kicking and he's got good hands. He's been a very versatile player for us."
Three more second-period scores, mostly involving big plays, gave the Senecas some separation at 27-0 at the half.
It started with sophomore quarterback Tyler Long's 57-yard touchdown sprint on a keeper. Moments later, Calvert drove 85 yards in eight plays with powerback Daniel Kwiat getting the score on a 9-yard run.
The third score was a 69-yard trek in the final 1:25 of the half. Long passes of 7 and 34 yards to Nick Warnement took the ball to the Raider 2, and Long got the touchdown on a sneak as time ran out.
Meanwhile, the Seneca defense limited Lakota to 27 yards, all on the ground.
"They took away our running game by bringing a lot of people," Raider coach Dave Vodika said. "We didn't fire off the ball very well and we couldn't hold them off.
"It's a process for us," he said. "It's going to take some time but I'm convinced there is light at the end of the tunnel for us. We're just going to have to keep working."
Calvert added three more touchdowns in the third period. Long scored from 4 yards out, Austin Ball added a 40-yard TD run and, following Derek Herzog's 67-yard punt return, Brendan Deats scored from 5 yards out to make it 46-0.
"Austin Ball and Brendan Deats both had very good games for us," Fox said. "One of the things we wanted to do was to get one of the other running backs back in the stable running a little better because we've been relying on Tyler and Dan a lot.
"I kind of put it on the line Monday that somebody else needs to step up and (Ball and Deats) did," he said. "And we're getting Tim Puesey back in the lineup, too. We're feeling pretty good about our stable of backs."
Tiger Jaso's 15-yard run gave the Raiders their only score on the tail end of a 65-yard drive. That score was immediately countered, as Ball took the kickoff 70 yards for the game's final touchdown.
Prior to that possession, Lakota had been limited to minus-16 yards in the second half.
"If you take away that one drive against our younger guys, we pretty well shut them down and they were the No. 1 rushing team coming in," Fox said. "Coach (Beau) Carmon is doing a great job with those guys. The defense has been getting better each and every week."
