GENOA — With his team down 10 points with less than 10 minutes remaining in Friday’s Class 4A first-round playoff game, Genoa-Kingston senior Chris Wilkins could almost see the end coming.
“All I could think of was ‘This could be my last game. This could be it,’” said Wilkins, the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Cogs quarterback. “But momentum can change that fast.”
Wilkins helped it change with his feet and his arm, capping off a 431-yard, four-TD performance by rallying Genoa-Kingston (8-2) back for a 38-34 home win over Hampshire (6-4). Wilkins threw for 65 of the 67 yards that eventually cut the Whip-purs’ lead to 34-31. He then hit the sidelines and darted in for a 34-yard TD run with 2:40 remaining for the game’s seventh (and final) lead change.
“We all knew: This is when it counts. This is the playoffs,” said Wilkins, who finished with 231 yards rushing and 204 yards and three TDs through the air. “It’s win or go home, and we weren’t ready to go home. This team has more to do.”
The seesaw first half opened with Hampshire’s Evan Brenner connecting for two quick TD passes on his first two completions. But Wilkins was up to the challenge, quickly rallying his team to a 14-13 advantage.
Whip-pur halfback and defensive back James Goebbert averaged over 12 yards a carry in the first quarter-and-a-half, and played even more impressively on defense. He picked off Wilkins three times — the last one coming early in the third quarter — and also caught up to the dynamic
Cogs QB just before the goal line and knocked the ball out of his hands and through the end zone for a touchback.
“We tried to get into his (Wilkins’) head a little. But when we had him a little afraid to pass, he ran all over us,” said Goebbert, who finished with 65 rushing yards, a 20-yard TD catch eight tackles and the three INTs. “This one hurts. It really hurts. We’ll be thinking about that last 10 minutes for a long time.”
Hampshire capitalized on Goebbert’s last interception by scoring first in the second half and taking a 27-24 lead. Brenner connected with wideout Bo Price for 31 yards to key the drive.
Price’s 17-yard reverse set up Ron Laramie’s 27-yard TD run, giving Hampshire the 10-point cushion early in the fourth quarter.
But Wilkins led a 7-play, 67-yard drive that took just 1:01 on the next possession, and sealed the victory with a fourth-down conversion just before his late burst into the end zone.
“We stressed all week that we had to take care of the ball. I’m just happy to come out of this with a W,” G-K coach Bill McCarty said after his team turned it over five times, and still snapped Hampshire’s six-game winning streak. “Those are fun games to be around; but I’ve been on the other side of them, and they’re not much fun over there.”
No. 6 Genoa-Kingston will take on the winner of No. 3 Reed-Custer (7-2) versus No. 14 Richmond-Burton (5-4) next week.
- Jay Taft, rrstar.com
