HOISINGTON 74, HALSTEAD 24 (2A) — Hoisington's dazzling tailback Taylen Morales rushed for 237 yards and scored four touchdowns as the Cardinals roared past Halstead 74-24 in Friday's 2A state football playoffs.

Morales scored on runs of 3, 34, 35 and 61 yards. He zig-zagged across the field on the 61-yard score. Morales punched through several Halstead tacklers and spun off Halstead's Noel Diehl on his highlight-reel 35-yard touchdown. 

"Taylen is a dude," said Hoisington football coach Zach Baird. "He plays the game with the right juice. We need to get more players to play emotionally invested like he is. He made some great runs. Anytime we hand it to Tay, it's a good thing. We block it up pretty well."

Cardinal quarterback Mason Martin was on fire with 210 yards and a trio of touchdown passes. Carson Mason caught 8- and 74-yard touchdown passes on perfectly executed screen passes. Leyton Mooney threw the key block on the 8-yard score. Brody Pfannenstiel scored on a 44-yard scoring reception and on a 2-yard run. 

"Any type of postseason win is a good one," Baird said. "We saw some good things. We need to find a way to get better." 

The Cardinals (9-0) play Hillsboro (6-3) in next week's second round playoff game at home.

Halstead 0 3 14 7 — 24

Hoisington 24 20 14 16 — 74

HOIS—Taylen Morales 3 run (Morales run); HOIS—Carson Mason 8 pass from Mason Martin (Martin pass from Morales); HOIS—Morales 61 run (Morales run); HAL—Carlos Martinez 28 FG; HOIS—Morales 35 run (pass fails); HOIS—Brody Pfannenstiel 44 pass from Martin (run fails); HAL—Zorn 1 run (Martinez kick); HAL—Zorn 5 run (Martinez kick); HOIS—Martin 25 run (C.J. Bryant run); HAL—Noah Diehl 20 pass from Zorn (Martinez kick); HOIS—Bryant 44 run (Morales run); HOIS—Morales 34 run (run fails); HOIS—Carson Mason 74 pass from Martin (Pfannenstiel pass from Morales); HOIS—Pfannenstiel 2 run (Pfannenstiel run)

RUSHING—HOIS—Morales 14-237; Bryant 5-82; Martin 21

PASSING—HOIS—Martin 210