Stratton/Liberty’s conditioning should be a little better by the time the Knighted Eagles host Cheyenne Wells on Saturday in the 6-man semifinals.
The second-seed Knighted Eagles were playing their first game in four weeks when they hosted Briggsdale last Saturday in a quarterfinal game at Liberty.
They ran out to a big lead, then held on for the 58-39 win.
“We ran out of gas in third quarter,” coach Toby Kechter said. “Our lack of practice and games really showed in the second half. Thankfully we dominated them in the first half. We played really hard, we just didn’t play very smart at times and made mistakes defensively we normally don’t make.”
Now they face Cheyenne Wells in the semifinals for the fourth time in five years. The game will be 1 p.m. Saturday in Stratton. Cheyenne Wells, the third seed, advanced with a 43-22 win over Prairie, last Saturday. (The semifinal originally was scheduled to be played at Liberty, but as of Friday it was set for Stratton, though CHSAANow.com still showed it being at Liberty.)
Stratton/Liberty ran out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, last Saturday. Charlie Clapper ran for two touchdowns, Alex Cruz ran for one and caught a TD pass from Charlie Tagtmeyer. Clapper and Cyler Notter both scored in the second quarter. Braden Wedel made four of six 2-point conversion kicks.
The Knighted Eagles led 44-8 at halftime.
They maintained a comfortable lead in the second half, with Riggin Williams running for a touchdown and Tagtmeyer throwing for another to Logan Breyer, but Briggsdale did score 31 points against a tiring defense.
“We didn’t suit a senior for the game, so it was nice to get a playoff win with no seniors on the field,” Kechter said.
He noted Riley Shean played well in his first start on the offensive line, and Daniel Tanner had a great game at center.
Tagtmeyer completed six of eight passes for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Cruz had three catches for 51 yards and a touchdown, Breyer two for 14 yards and a score, and Notter one catch for three yards.
Williams led the defense with 12 total tackles, while Breyer had eight (four sacks), Cruz seven, Will Witzel four and sack, Notter, Tagtmeyer and Clapper three each, and Clayton Craig two sacks.
