Hugoton Beats Larned; Remains in Playoff Hunt

Hugoton, KS (westernkansasnews.com) The Hugoton Eagles (3-5, 1-1 district) needed a win in the worst way and Friday night Coach Todd Fulton used a quarterback rotation between Parker Titus and Valentino Degollado to get the job done in a 14-6 win over Larned (4-4, 0-2 district).

Degollado led the Eagles in rushing with 17 carries for 85 yards, but Coach Fulton credited his defense for leading the way to a big win.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

After giving up a touchdown on the opening kickoff last week against Pratt, Hugoton had a nice return of their from Manuel Mendez to the Eagle 34 in starting the game.  Ninety seconds later, Mendez caught his first touchdown pass of the season from Parker Titus.  The 24 yard score made it 7-0 Hugoton.

Larned had a great chance to tie it up at the end of the first half.  Hugoton fumbles the ball at Eagle 35 for their only turnover of the night.  Larned closed in for the score, but were denied in a great goal line stand by the Eagles.

Hugoton added a score on their first drive of the second half with a 14 yard run from Ulises Armendariz.  For Armendariz it was his third straight week with a rushing touchdown.  Landon Erway answered back with a two yard touchdown run late in the third quarter for Larned’s only score.

Trailing 14-6 in the fourth quarter Larned became a victim of awful field position.  Several times the Indians were pushed back inside their own 20 yard line to start drives.  Larned’s power I attack just could not generate anything offensively to mount another scoring threat the rest of the game.  The Indians had a total of 169 yards for the game almost 200 yards less than Hugoton’s defense typically gives up.

Hugoton will end the regular season on the road at Holcomb.  With a win, Hugoton qualifies for the playoffs.  A loss and the Eagles would need Larned to beat Pratt and then the final playoff spot would be determine by point differential in district play among Pratt, Larned and Hugoton.