The 2010 football season came to an end for the Kimball High Longhorns following a 27-13 loss at Ord in a state playoff first round contest this last Thursday. The #10 seeded Longhorns and their fans had to travel to take on the #7 Ord crew and the near 300 mile trip may have had a bearing on the play of the Horns early as they fell behind 14-0 in the opening period and then battled the host club even the final three quarters.

It was a near perfect evening for football once again and the facilities at Ord are very nice. Kimball received the opening Kickoff and promptly picked up a first down on a 17 yard pass play from Kendall Ferguson to Dalton Lockwood.

On a fourth down play however, the Horns came up short and Ord took over at their own 40 yard line. It took them six plays to cover the 60 yards for their first touchdown with Landon Banks going in from 20 yards out.

Brad Welniak kicked the PAT to go up 7-0 with 6:34 left to play in the first quarter.

Following the ensuing kickoff, Kimball had their second holding penalty to put them in a hole and went to the air four straight times, but again turned the ball over on downs, and once again Ord struck quickly going  59 yards in four plays with Welniak connecting with Preston Wilson for a 32 yard touchdown pass, and Welniak’s kick made it 14-0 with 3:53 showing on the clock, still first period. That was the score at half time following a scoreless second period. The horns threatened in the second quarter after Ferguson came up with an interception at the Kimball 10 yard line  and ran it back 21 yards.  A 21 yard pitch right by Daum, and a l5 yard pass from Ferguson to Brent Bussinger moved the horns into Ord territory, but the drive ended when Ferguson had a pass picked off.

Ord scored first in the third quarter taking the second half kickoff back to their own 46 yard line and then driving 54 yards in 6 plays with Welniak sprinting the final 25 yards on a keeper right and then kicked the PAT with 9:16 left third period to go up 21-0.  Kimball came right back after a good return by Daum to near mid field. On the second snap from scrimmage on this possession, Ferguson fired complete to Brady Land who then out ran everyone to the end zone to finish out a 57 yard touchdown play. Ferguson’s kick made it a 21-7 margin with 8:23 left in the third quarter, and that was the score going into the fourth period.

Ord’s next TD came after their second interception of a Ferguson pass with the Chanticleers driving 77 yards with Geoff Foth going the final 7 yards straight up the middle for the score. Welniak missed on the PAT kick and it was a 27-7 ball game with 1:43 left to play. To the credit of the Longhorns, there never was any give up, and they were playing hard to the final horn.

On the kickoff following Ord’s last TD, Lockwood had a nice return to the Kimball 33 and  8 plays later with Ferguson hitting on five straight passes, and going 6 of 7 during the drive, he found Jeff Greenwood open in the end zone for a 5 yard touchdown pass completion with just :23 seconds remaining in the game. The horns went for two but Ferguson missed on the pass play. Kimball tried the onside kick but it ended up actually going backwards and Ord ended the game by taking a knee. The score clock read 27-13.

It was a game of opposites as Kimball could not generate a ground game and Ord ran all over the place.  The winners had 324 yards rushing on 53 carries while Kimball had 22 net yards on 22 rushes although Ferguson was sacked for minus 34 yards rushing. Kimball won the air game going 18 of 31 for 255 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Ord was 2 for 6 passing for 49 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Ord led in first downs 19 to 16. Kimball was penalized 5 times for 55 yards and Ord 8 times for 70 yards. Both teams punted twice.

While Ord had two players over 100 yards rushing, Kimball was led by Daum with 35 yards on 9 carries, and Bernie Bridge with 13 on 3 attempts. Ferguson was 18 of 31 passing for 255 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Top receivers were Brady Land with 8 catches for 151 yards and 1 TD, Jake Daum 4 for 53, Brent Bussinger 2 for 27, Jeff Greenwood 3 for 12 with 1 TD, and Dalton Lockwood 1 for 17.

Leading the tackle charts were Daum and Jeff Greenwood with 10 each including  8 solos for both.  Brady Land had 8 solo stops and 1 assist. Greenwood also picked up his 8th interception of the  season in the season finale and Ferguson also had 1 interception.  Jake Reader had 4 tackles and 2 assists, Kendall Ferguson was 3-5, Bernie Bridge 3-4, James Ferguson 4-1, Alan Muneio 2-2, Andrew Barrett 2-0, Lance Winters 1-0, Brent Bussinger 2-0, Dalton Lockwood 3-0, and Trevan Hinton 1-1.

Coach Chauncey Pedersen commenting on his first season as the head of the Kimball High program said, “We knew going in we needed to take care of the football and we had some turnovers,  We had some big plays called back, including a touchdown. Overall, it was a good high school football game and both teams played well, It was a great night for football and I want to thank our following of fans, They have been great all year.”

The Horns closed out a successful winning season of 5-4, were conference champions, and made the state playoffs for the first time since 1999.  When we take a look at the final stats in the weeks ahead.  We will see how much of a role this year’s seniors played in this success, but we will also see there are a lot of experienced starters returning to build around next year.

Ord         14   0   7   6----27

Kimball    0   0   7   6     13