BY JIM MISUNAS

jmisunas@gbtribune.com

What a rivalry.

The fireworks blasted off for the second consecutive time for the Great Bend Panthers.

Koehn Ribordy soared into the air to knock down Hays High's pass attempt to escape with a wild 29-22 playoff victory over their Western Conference rival.

Great Bend's Cooper Ohmnacht delivered a 51-yard touchdown reception from Daxton Minton for a 29-22 lead over Hays in Friday's 5A playoff showdown.

Hays High's Drew Wellbrock recovered a goal-line fumble to get the Indians within 23-22 behind Great Bend in the fourth quarter. Holden Lind caught a 2-point pass from Braxton Basgall.

The Panthers led 23-14 when Ian Premer blocked a pass at the goal-line. But Premer dropped the football to give the Indians the football at the 1-yard line.

Ian Premer gave the Panthers a 23-14 lead on a amazing 21-yard touchdown reception, 

Great Bend and Hays High each scored two touchdowns for a 14-14 halftime tie in Friday's 5A football quarterfinal.

The Panthers' big play trio of Ian Premer, Daxton Minton and Cooper Ohnmacht delivered 150 yards offense.

Hays quarterback Zane Viegra passed for 73 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Premer spun around and reversed field for a dazzling 31-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead after Geovanni Cruz's extra point. Minton completed a 14-yard pass on fourth down.

Hays countered after a costly pass interference flag on a football thrown out of bounds. Viegra completed a perfectly thrown 22-yard touchdown pass to Jared Purdy for a 7-7 tie.

The Panthers responded with a clutch fourth-down 3-yard touchdown pass from Minton to Ohnmacht for a 14-7 lead with under a minute left.

Lind made the Panthers pay for a defense that played off the line of scrimmage with a 41-yard dash. Viegra completed a fourth down 9-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Lind for a 14-14 tie.

Hays gained 108 yards rushing and 73 yards passing.

“You just try to focus one at a time and this was a big one,” said Panther coach Erin Beck. “We knew it would be. We knew it was probably inevitable we were going to see them at some point. It was a great rematch between two good teams. To get past that one and into the semifinals is quite an accomplishment. These kids need to enjoy and celebrate.”

“We saw in the first half that they were overplaying Ian a little bit,” Beck said. “We got trips and ran Ian on a little speed-out, and it left Cooper one-on-one. Daxton made a great throw to him and changed the scoreboard pretty quickly.”

“You just knew they were going to put the ball in a playmaker’s hands and have the two-way go whether he could run it or throw it,” said Beck. “I thought our kids did a great job of staying home. We set (Jacob Hall) on the edge to give them a little extra pressure. The defense bowed up when we needed

“After making some uncharacteristic mistakes that had us holding our breath a little bit -after getting the score and the blocked PAT, you just knew if Hays was going to score that thing, they were going for two and the win. I’m just very proud of the way our kids played winning football down the stretch.”

“It was tough,” Beck said. “We had to rally the troops a little bit and make sure they understood there’s a whole half of football left because that was a huge momentum swing they stole after us scoring right before the half. The way our kids kept their composure at halftime, you could kind of feel they’d be alright. But it was an unbelievable game. Tip your hat to Hays; that was a great game plan. It was a battle between two really good football teams.”

 Hays High 0 14 0 8 — 22

Great Bend 7 7 9 6 — 29

GB—Ian Premer 31 run (Giovanni Cruz kick)

H—Jarek Purdy 22 pass from Zane Viegra (Carson Moore kick)

GB—Cooper Ohnmacht 3 pass from Daxton Minton (Cruz kick)

H—Holden Lind 9 pass from Viegra (Moore kick)

GB—Safety (Trenton Kern blocked punt)

GB—Ian Premer 21 pass from Minton (Cruz kick)

H—Braxton Basgall 1 run (Lind pass from Basgall)

GB—Ohnmacht 51 pass from Minton (kick blocked)

RUSHING—H—50-263; Lind 35-200; Braxton Basgall 12-51; Brogan Albers 1-7; Jaxson Chartier 1-4; Viegra 1-1; GB—Ian Premer 12-71; Daxton Minton 12-73; Ohnmacht 1-(-4); team 1-(-2).

PASSING—H—Viegra 9-16-0, 86; GB—Minton 13-18-0, 155.

RECEIVING—H—Purdy 6-71; Lind 1-9; Jesse Taggart 1-6; Viegra 1-0; GB—Ian Premer 6-84; Ohnmacht 7-71.

5A SEMIFINALS

Great Bend (11-0) vs. Salina Central (10-1)

St. James (10-1) vs. Basehor-Linwood (11-0) 

QUARTERFINALS—Great Bend 29, Hays High 22; Salina Central 49, Salina South 24; Basehor-Linwood 31, Leavenworth 7; St. James 45, Mill Valley 42

SECOND ROUND WEST—Great Bend 49, Wichita Carroll 7; Hays High 27, Hutchinson 6; Salina Central 62, Goddard 32; Salina South 22, Liberal 16

FIRST ROUND WEST—Great Bend 49, Newton 14; Wichita Carroll 14, Valley Center 0; Hutchinson 35, Emporia 0; Hays High 49, Goddard Eisenhower 30; Salina Central 68, Topeka West 22; Goddard 27, Maize South 24; Salina South 24, Andover 20; Liberal 41, Topeka Seaman 17

SECOND ROUND EAST—Basehor-Linwood 35, Blue Valley North 28; Leavenworth 35, Blue Valley North 21; Mill Valley 28, St. Thomas Aquinas 27; St. James 26, Spring Hill 14

FIRST ROUND EAST—Basehor-Linwood 28, BV Southwest 10; DeSoto 49, Highland Park 16; Blue Valley North 49, KC Washington 18; Leavenworth 32, Pittsburg 22; St. Thomas Aquinas 49, KC Turner 0; Mill Valley 35, Blue Valley 26; Spring Hill 74, KC Harmon 0; St. James 57, Shawnee Heights 28

2A SEMIFINALS