The Arickaree football team is heading to Granada for a 6-man quarterfinal playoff game, Saturday afternoon.
The sixth-seed Bison, 8-2, held on to beat 11th-seed Branson/Kim, 26-22, last Saturday in the first round. Third-seed Granada, 7-3, rolled past 14th-seed Briggsdale 89-32. The Bobcats have scored more than 50 points in all but two games this season, including a 102-74 win over Walsh in September. They beat Branson/Kim in the season opener, 68-24, and both Granada and Arickaree have lost to top-seed Stratton.
The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the semifinals, next week, to play either second-seed Fleming or seventh-seed Genoa-Hugo.
Arickaree probably found last Saturday’s playoff opener much closer than initially anticipated.
In fact, the Bison had to rally for the win.
They led 12-8 after the first quarter, but found themselves trailing 16-12 at halftime. The Bearcats still held a 22-20 lead after three quarters. However, Arickaree was able get a touchdown and 2-point conversion kick in the fourth, while holding Branson/Kim scoreless, to escape with the victory.
Logan Wright ran for 155 yards, and Nic Hermes ran for a touchdown. Wright completed nine of 17 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns. Bryce Shaffer had three catches for 56 yards and a TD, Jake King three catches for 27 yards and a score, Hermes one for 17 yards, Jacob Jefferson one for 20 yards, and Dillon Noletubby one for eight yards.
Arickaree also got a touchdown on an interception return by Shaffer. Wright recovered a fumble.
A strong defensive effort was led by Hayden Page being in on 22 total tackles, Zarron Skubal 19, Austin Wright 15, Hermes 11, L. Wright 11, King 10, Shaffer seven, and Jefferson and Noletubby one each.
In other playoff games last weekend, Stratton beat Prairie 46-14, and Eads beat North Park 75-28, Fleming won 58-6 over Hanover, fourth-seed Cheyenne Wells beat Cotopaxi 70-25, fourth-seed Otis beat Sierra Grande 55-13, and seventh-seed Genoa-Hugo won 31-8 over Cheraw.
