AURORA — A few hours before Friday night’s kickoff, Fairview quarterback Ben Schumacher chatted with offensive coordinator Sean Embree, who mentioned the inclement weather awaiting the No. 2 Knights at Legacy Stadium.
“He said, ‘It’s raining down there,’ ” Schumacher said. “I asked, ‘Well, are we going to throw?’ he said, ‘Yeah, of course we are.’ “
That rain quickly morphed into snow, but that didn’t stop the run-oriented Knights from catching 18th-seeded Grandview off-guard with a few early touchdown passes to kick-start a 35-26 win in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Schumacher hit Lucas Pena- Gonzalez in stride for a 70-yard TD on the Knights’ second play and connected with Kenny Bell for a 5-yard score to cap Fairview’s second series. The Knights extended it to a 21-0 first-quarter lead before holding off a furious Grandview comeback to remain unbeaten at 11-0.
“We knew they were going to come after us, them being a Centennial League powerhouse team,” Fairview running back/safety Tucker Tharp said. “They underestimated us early, but it got nerve-wracking.”
Grandview (6-5) chiseled Fairview’s advantage to 28-26 early in the fourth quarter and narrowly missed tying it up with a two-point conversion pass. That’s when Tharp came to the rescue to put it out of reach.
The senior busted off a 47-yard touchdown run — he also scored on runs of 62 and 2 in the first half — getting a key block from guard Ben Van Deusen. Then, as Grandview threatened to score in the final two minutes, Tharp intercepted a tipped pass at the 2-yard line, allowing the Knights to run out the clock.
Grandview didn’t fold after falling into the early 21-point crater and ended up outgaining the Knights 417-316. Touchdown runs by Logan Cross and Chris Martin helped narrow the gap to 28-14 at halftime, then Justin Owens and Martin added touchdown runs in the second half to trim it to 28-26.
The point-after was blocked after Owens’ score, which forced the Wolves to go for the ill-fated two-point conversion.
“We did what we could, but we just dug ourselves too big a hole to begin with,” said Grandview running back Ryan Tasker, who grinded out 159 yards on 33 carries.
