Indians Defeat Cowboys
On Friday evening, September 18th, the St. Francis Indians defeated the Goodland Cowboys by a score of 28-12 in high school football. The Cowboys were a strong opponent with good size up front and good quickness and skill in the backfield. St. Francis got on the scoreboard first on a one yard plunge by fullback Cody Sherlock with 5:35 remaining in the first quarter. Matt Raile ran for the conversion points and the Indians went ahead 8-0. The touchdown was set up by a pass play from Matt Raile to Trent Raile on fourth and long in Cowboy territory that advanced the ball to the Goodland 1 yard line.
After several short possessions by both teams, Goodland completed a long pass play that set up first and goal on the St. Francis 4 yard line. The Cowboys punched the ball into the end zone on the next play to bring the score to 8-6 with 4:10 remaining in the second quarter. On the conversion attempt, an Indian penalty moved the ball to the 1 and a half yard line for the retry. The Indian defense stuffed the try and escaped with a 2 point lead.
With 1:19 remaining in the half, the Indians intercepted a Cowboy pass to set up their next scoring possession. With 0:39 on the clock, Trent Raile scored on a 39 yard touchdown run. The conversion was no good. The Indians led at halftime, 14-6.
The Cowboys next score came after a 41 yard run to the 1 yard line to set up first and goal. The Cowboys scored their second touchdown of the evening (conversion pass no good) to bring the score to 14-12 with 1:31 left in the third.
With 10:41 remaining the fourth quarter, Trent Raile scored on a 7 yard run (conversion failed) to give St. Francis a 20-12 lead. With 4:07 left in the game, Goodland had the ball on the St. Francis 22 yard line advancing for a score. The Indian defense arose to the occasion and threw the Cowboys for losses on successive plays. The Cowboys then threw a long pass which took the ball to the Indian 4 yard line, but the play was nullified by a holding call on the Cowboys. Goodland's penalty took them back to the 50 yard line with 2:33 remaining.
St. Francis intercepted another Goodland pass and returned it to the St. Francis 45 yard line with two minutes to play. Trent Raile scored on the next play on a 55 yard jaunt around the left side. The conversion run was good. St. Francis took a 28-12 lead with 1:52 remaining in the game.
Using quick passing plays, Goodland advanced the ball on their next possession, but Matt Raile picked off another Cowboy pass on the yard line with 0:41 remaining to seal the win. The Indians defeated the Cowboys 28-12.
