Lots of offense and a late defensive stand sealed a win for the Skyline Thunderbirds Friday night, as they outlasted St. John 78-76 in a marathon game at Webster Field.
The T-birds piled up 538 yards of offense, including 461 all-purpose yards by senior Trent Befort, but it was their defense that provided the knockout punch.
After the T-birds finished their scoring, St. John had the ball with less than two minutes to go.
The T-bird defense stepped up and stopped the Tigers on fourth down with less than a minute to go, allowing Skyline’s offense to take a knee before celebrating their second win of the season.
The game was a shootout from the beginning, as the Tigers needed just four plays to go 46 yards for their first touchdown, a 23-yard pass from Kinser Crissman to Patrick Prescott. After the conversion, St. John was up 8-0 with 10:25 left in the opening quarter.
St. John made it 14-0 on a 43-yard pass to Danton Hilton with 6:41 left in the first quarter, but Skyline took advantage of the game’s first turnover — an interception by Brennan Stotts — later in the quarter.
After Stotts made his pick, the Tigers were flagged for a horsecollar tackle, setting the T-bird offense up with first down at the Tiger 16.
After a couple plays went nowhere, Befort took a pass from Easton Burgardt and raced 19 yards untouched, thanks in large part to a great block by senior teammate Brandon Morrow, for the touchdown.
Befort came up short on the conversion, leaving St. John up 14-6 with 3:15 on the clock.
St. John went on to lead 20-14 after the first quarter as neither team had the answer for the other’s offense.
Skyline was up 36-34 midway through the second quarter, and the T-birds extended that lead with a 10-yard touchdown run by junior Devin Hacker with 2:50 left in the half.
The conversion run was ruled short, and it was 42-34 Skyline.
St. John rallied to lead 50-42 at halftime, but the T-birds controlled the third quarter as they outscored St. John 22-12 in the frame to take a 64-62 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Both teams scored twice and got one two-point conversion in the final frame, allowing Skyline to preserve the win.
Befort ran for 391 yards and six touchdowns on 31 carries.
He also caught two passes for 70 yards and a pair of touchdowns, plus returned an interception for a touchdown.
“Befort had a big night,” SHS coach Jon Novotny said.
Hacker chipped in with 47 yards on 14 carries, plus caught three passes and ran for a touchdown.
Burgardt completed six of ten passes for 80 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran for 20 yards on nine carries.
Brandon Baird had a catch as well.
Befort and Brennan Stotts each had 12 tackles and an interception, while Burgardt, Jake Harts, Zach Marzullo and Preston Weaver-Tharp had a sack each.
Skyline is now 2-5 overall and 1-2 in district play. The T-birds will host Greensburg Friday night at Webster Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Pratt, Kan. —
