It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

Kimball won the second half 24-16, scoring on three of their first four drives. Only a moment of poor sportsmanship kept it from being a clean sweep.

Unfortunately, there was a precursor—a disappointing first half during which Gordon-Rushville not only blanketed the Longhorns, 22-0, but thoroughly coated them, as well.

That’s “coated” as in Mustangs running back Kalen Coats, who punctured Kimball’s defense for 257 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and hauled in quarterback Renen Sahr’s only completed pass for another score, leading his team to a 38-24 win Friday night in Gordon.

He was also responsible for seven of the home squad’s ten first downs.

“Maybe if we keyed on him more,” said Longhorns head coach Chauncey Pederson when asked if there was a way to stop the speedy senior. “But I thought coach [Gene] Mohr had a good game plan to stop him.”

It’s difficult to duplicate breakaway speed in practice, though. “Coach Mohr had me prepare for him all week,” explained Daniel Valdez. “But he’s quick.”

There was no slowing Gordon-Rushville’s feature back all night. But after a frustrating 24 minutes during which Kimball allowed an opening kickoff return by Joe Jacobson and watched Coats cross the goal line twice while managing only 56 yards on six possessions themselves, the Longhorns almost pulled off an unthinkable comeback.

After opening the second half with two straightforward running plays—Bernie Bridge up the middle and Dalton Lockwood around the left into Gordon territory, quarterback Trevan Hinton resorted to a little trickery. On first and ten from midfield, wingback Jeff Greenwood took a pitch, eluded one blitzing linebacker, squared up and fired the ball downfield. Caleb Reuter broke free, secured the pass and fought his way inside the red zone—a 23 yard pitch and catch.

Three consecutive running plays then moved the ball across the five. From there, Todd O’Hare put the Longhorns on the board, almost waltzing in through a gaping hole opened by his offensive line.

Gordon—or rather Coats—answered quickly, the elusive back bursting up the middle, spinning free from Kimball’s pursuit then sprinting for a 66 yard score.

But the Longhorns had emerged from the locker room as if on fire. And Pedersen shifted freshman Damian Rutledge back to center—a minor adjustment that seemed to pay big dividends, as the big men up front began cracking sizable gaps in Gordon-Rushville’s line.

On Kimball’s second possession of the half, Hinton directed a drive showcasing the team’s grind-it-out attack at its best.

After Greenwood tried the left side for no gain, Bridge charged through the middle for 13 tough yards and a first down. Greenwood then slipped right, moving the chains again. Following an incompletion—Kimball varied its double wing offense more than usual, adding an I and a spread look into the mix—young Colton Stull entered the game and drove the ball to Gordon-Rushville’s 31.

He missed a first down by a narrow margin. Pedersen decided to risk the fourth and short, sending Bridge over center, earning another set of downs.

From there, Hinton turned to O’Hare and Greenwood, the latter fighting his way across the goal line from ten yards out to complete a picture perfect 13 play drive covering 67 yards.

The Mustangs were clearly rattled by Kimball’s relentless drive. The ensuing series netted them a loss of three yards on three plays.

“We were able to finally shut down their key players,” Valdez explained.

With 1:14 left of the third and a full fourth quarter to go, the Longhorns now seemed poised for a dramatic, come from behind win—and they pursued it with a vengeance, forcing the ball inside the home side’s five on the legs of O’Hare, Bridge, Stull, Greenwood and freshman Jonathon Withrow, whose only carry of the evening was a brilliant weaving, dodging 12 yard affair.

On first and goal from the three, Hinton lost control of the ball. He recovered, but conceded six yards in the process.

So the Longhorns turned to the air. Hinton rolled right, looking for Brent Bussinger in the end zone. But someone in a car parked in the quarterback’s line of sight flicked on their headlights. Hinton’s pass sailed and Sahr intercepted, quelling an almost certain Kimball scoring drive.

“I don’t know that that had any effect,” Pedersen said. Each time Kimball approached the north end zone, the headlights shuttered on and off. Later in the game officials halted play while the referee left the grounds to speak with that vehicle’s owner.

The pick proved to be the only black mark on an otherwise outstanding performance by the Longhorns signal caller. He completed nine of 18 for 70 yards on the night and showed tremendous composure under pressure.

“Trevan did a great job all game,” Pedersen was quick to point out.

Fortunately the interception failed to dampen Kimball’s newfound momentum. Setbacks happen, Bussinger pointed out. “You just have to go right back out.”

The defense held Gordon-Rushville to another three and out, Valdez dropping Coats for a five yard loss in the process.

Which they did, covering 50 yards in 49 seconds on a long Greenwood run, a first down connection between Hinton and the speedy number one and, finally, a 24 yard touchdown dash by Stull, the freshman.

“Stull had some great runs,” Pedersen said.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the score stood at 30-18 in favor of the hosts. Kimball was only two touchdowns from victory.

They could only manage one—a Hinton toss to Greenwood with time running out after another long and time consuming drive. And they couldn’t prevent Coats from executing one more sweep into the end zone.

The game ended at 38-24.

For homecoming the Longhorns welcome Cozad, with post season opportunities still on the line.

“We have to have a big week of practice,” Pedersen said. “We need to come out against Cozad like we did here in the second half.”