The lights shone bright in beautiful Victoria, Kansas as two storied programs faced-off in Victoria and Central Plains. The Victoria Knights have one 7 state titles, mostly recently in 2014 (in DII) and 2015. The Central Plains Oilers won titles in 2014 and last year in 2018. The two teams have split the last 8 meetings 4 to 4 and 3 of the last 5 years the winner of this game has won state. The stage was set for a classic battle.
Victoria received the ball first and put together a methodical drive that ended with a 27 yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Grant Schoenrock. That put Victoria up 8-0. Central Plains was able to put together several impressive drives, but they could never find pay dirt. A long drive ended when senior quarterback Jerred Bieberle threw an interception in the end zone. It was 8-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.
The Knights really opened up in the second quarter getting long touchdown runs from Schoenrock and fullback Jayvon Pruitt. The Oilers were able to pick-up a lone touchdown on a kick return by Cole Lamatsch. By halftime, Victoria led 30-8.
The second half was more of the same as the Victoria defense consistently held the line against the Central Plains rushing attack. Schoenrock and Pruitt continued to dominate on the ground, each making several more trips to the endzone. The final score showed Victoria winning in dominating fashion 50-14.
Schoenrock rushed for 225 yards and 4 touchdowns on just 13 attempts. Pruitt chipped in another 122 yards to go with a couple of scores. Victoria as a team ran for 425 yards. Jerred Bieberle was able to throw for 110 yards and a touchdown, but struggled with efficiency going 4/13. Bieberle also added 15 tackles from his linebacker position. Central Plains was only able to gain 103 yards on the ground.
Central Plains lost back to back games for the first time since 2012, but will have a chance to get in the win column next week when they visit Kinsley. The Knights of Victoria will put their perfect record on the line when they travel to Macksville next week