ALTAMONT — A new head coach, a new system on offense and a star player lost to injury isn’t the recipe for the best season a school has ever had.
Yet, here we are. Labette County took down Ottawa, 28-14, in the quarterfinals of the KSHSAA 4A playoffs on Friday night to book the Grizzlies’ first-ever trip to the semifinals.
“I’m proud of our program. It’s our first state semifinal appearance and it took all 48 minutes,” Labette County head coach Bradley Argabright said. “I’m so proud of our guys for being ready to play tonight and leaving it on the field. Now we get the opportunity to have another week, play at home and make a state championship.”
The Grizzlies never trailed Ottawa on Friday as they scored the first touchdown.
Midway through the first quarter, an interception from Barrett Hestand set up the first of three touchdown runs from Deontae Fields.
“It was huge coming off that turnover. Momentum was on our side,” Argabright said. “Getting the first score solidified that we could move the ball. We got the feeling that we could get it done. It was a huge momentum burst.”
A deep connection from Grizzlies gunslinger Aaron Wyrick to Kegan Bates propelled Labette County to a 14-7 advantage at the break.
Ottawa nearly drove the length of the field to start the second half before being stymied in the red zone.
Labette County then took the baton and marched back down the field, with Fields’ second score giving the Grizzlies a 21-7 lead.
“It was a huge stop,” Argabright said. “Then we just went down and scored to open it up. That made Ottawa do some things on offense they didn’t want to do. They had to get away from running their quarterback. Capitalizing on that stop was big.”
Another interception for the Grizzlies, this time on a tipped ball hauled in by Kamden Good, set up what was the game-winning play.
On 3rd-and-29 from near midfield, to start the fourth quarter, Nolan Nash broke through to the second level then dashed to the sideline before he was dragged down five yards short of paydirt.
One play later, Fields found the end zone a third time.
“It was an inside iso play and we knew they’d have guys back in coverage,” Argabright said. “We just wanted to run the ball then punt afterwards. But Nolan broke it down the sideline and we scored the next play. He ran hard and broke two tackles. It was a game-sealing play. We were about to give them the ball back down scores. And we went up three scores. It was a special run. And I know Ottawa missed some tackles and they want that play back.”
Ottawa quarterback Haydon Hull, a dynamic dual-threat, never quite broke through despite leading two scoring drives.
“We had great pursuit to the ball,” Argabright said. “He broke contain a couple of times. But credit to our secondary. They guarded guys all night long and didn’t give up a huge play. He kept trying to improvise and we were in the right spots.”
While registering two takeaways, Labette County never turned the ball over themselves. It was the fourth straight game the Grizzlies kept a clean sheet, dating back to a Week 7 loss to Independence where Labette County coughed it up five times.
“It was a wakeup call for us,” Argabright said. “We learned from our mistakes. We knew we lost a game because we hurt ourselves. We knew Chanute was right after and we had a playoff mentality. That first game against them was a must-win in our eyes. We’ve been refocused. We never burned the ship. We just decided that we had to take care of the ball and play better defense.”
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With nine wins, tying a school record, to its credit, the Grizzlies host Bishop Miege in the 4A semifinals on Friday night.
“This group enjoys being around one another and playing together,” Argabright said. “They’ve played together from a young age and we’re reaping the benefits. I can’t say enough about our coaching staff. Everybody has contributed to this. It’s been building every week and now it’s shining at the right moment.”
Bishop Miege “upset” top-seeded Eudora in its quarterfinal matchup. The private school powerhouse near Kansas City has been to the semifinals in 12 of the last 14 years.
“Miege is the standard in 4A and has been for 10 years,” Argabright said. “They’ll have great players. We’ve got to bring our hunger into the game and bring our best shot. We feel like if we play mistake-free and create explosive plays, we’ve got a great shot.”
Argabright added that he won’t try to trick Miege with an off-script gameplan.
“Every week, we add a formation or two to keep people honest,” Argabright said. “We’ll find something we like. It all starts with the run for us. We’re going to rely on that and lean heavily on our defense. Defense wins championships. We’ve got to find a way to stop them.”
