BonnerSprings.com

The Basehor-Linwood High School football team may have showed last Friday why it could be the team to beat this year in Class 4A-District 6. The Bobcats completely dominated Lansing, defeating the Lions 52-28 at Kiester Field.

"I think we made a real big statement tonight. When you can go out and dominate a district game like that it sure sets a tone for the other teams to wake up and take notice," said Paul Brown, B-L head coach, following the game. "But we have to sustain that. We have to continue it into the next game.

"I thought it would be a better ballgame than what it was. The biggest difference was we just dominated the lines. Our offense has gotten better all season, so it was nice to have a breakout game like that."

Basehor-Linwood's Travis Fouts was off to the races after hauling in a pass from quarterback Nick Verbenec during football action Friday night. Fouts raced to the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown in the Bobcats' 52-28 win over Lansing.

For all practical purposes, the game was over before the first quarter ended. The Bobcats scored three touchdowns in the first 12 minutes.

Nick Verbenec had a hand in all three scores, getting touchdown runs of one and five yards, and throwing a 25-yard TD to Travis Fouts.

The second of Verbenec's scores and Fouts' touchdown catch are ones for the highlight reel.

On Verbenec's score, the junior quarterback rolled to his right on the option and looked to pitch to tailback Matt Dukes. But Verbenec was running out of real estate and with Lansing defenders closing in, he cut back to his left and ran back to the middle of the field. That was where he made a nifty move to fake out a Lansing lineman and he waltzed into the end zone.

Fouts' score came after he made an acrobatic catch along the B-L sideline. He then simulated his patented basketball spin move and broke a few tackles on his way to paydirt.

"One of the things we talked about before the game was we needed to play all-out all four quarters and leave it all on the field," Brown said. "The kids did that really well from the get-go. We came off the ball and took it up the middle and off the edge. The kids ran hard even after initial hits. The effort that was given was tremendous."

After both squads exchanged touchdowns in the second quarter, giving Basehor-Linwood a 28-6 lead at the intermission, the Bobcats put the game away for good, scoring 17 unanswered points in the third quarter for a 45-6 lead.

Joey Barlow scored the second of his three TD's and the defense provided some points. Jackie Kimlin had a 60-yard interception return for a score and the Lansing punter downed his knee in the end zone for a safety.

With the game safely in Basehor-Linwood's hands, Brown was able to get his second unit and the junior varsity some extra playing time.

The Lions scored two quick touchdowns in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to 45-20, forcing Brown to put his starters back in.

For the second time this year, Barlow and Dukes surpassed 100 yards rushing in the same game. Barlow finished with 154 yards on 16 carries and Dukes added 132 yards on 17 attempts. It was Dukes' third time to go over the century mark.

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