BonnerSprings.com

Kansas City, Kan. — The next time you are talking around the water cooler and somebody suggests that kickers don't matter in football, stop them, sit them down and hand them the phone so they can call Bonner Springs High School football coach Lew Kasselman.

His kicker is the reason the Braves started the season off with a victory against Bishop Ward Friday night.

Senior kicker Chance Crawford, who had missed an extra point and a 27-yard field goal attempt earlier in the game, lined up for a 34-yard try with 11 seconds left on the clock. His team was trailing 28-26. Bishop Ward signaled for a timeout to "ice" the kicker, but it turned out that the extra time was just what Crawford needed to relax. The snap and placement were perfect, and Crawford followed through with a kick that split the uprights to give the Braves a one-point victory, 29-28.

"The first couple of kicks I was a little shaky," Crawford said. "After that I decided 'you know what, I'm going to kick the ball just like practice' and that's what I did. The winning kick, I knew I made it right when I hit it."

"That is (Chance's) first kick in a game since middle school," Kasselman said. "You couldn't ask for a tougher, more pressure-packed kick than that one in high school."

The Braves trailed almost every second of the game. Early in the first quarter, Braves junior quarterback Brandon Eastland dropped back to attempt his first pass of his varsity career. The Braves had committed two penalties in a row and were standing in the shadow of their own goalpost. Eastland had no doubt where he was going with the ball. Unfortunately for him, the defenders had no doubt either. His pass was tipped in the air and Bishop Ward senior linebacker James Makona brought it in for the interception and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.

"I was so pumped up early on I made some costly mistakes," Eastland said. "I gathered myself and bounced back and made some plays to get us going."

Trailing by a touchdown, the Braves mounted a 14-play drive and capped it with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Eastland to Luke Terrell. Crawford missed the extra point. Ward led 7-6.

Junior running back Cole Muder scored on a 1-yard run to put the Cyclones up at halftime, 14-6.

After Bonner started the third quarter with a three-and-out, Ward quarterback Beau Stoker hooked up with running back Jeff Keller down the sideline for a 42-yard touchdown, taking a commanding 21-6 lead.

Bonner failed to get its offense going again and pinned Bishop Ward deep in its own territory. Ward fumbled the center exchange and the Braves recovered on the 5-yard line. Eastland ran it in for a touchdown and BSHS trailed 21-14.

On the third play of the next drive Stoker found Joseph Ramirez at midfield with nothing but open field in front of him because a Bonner defender gambled for an interception. Ramirez raced into the endzone with the 70-yard reception, and stretched the lead to 28-14.

Bonner Springs began to benefit from Ward's mistakes in the fourth quarter.

Ward had a snap go over its punter's head and through the back of the endzone for a safety, making the score 28-16.

Bonner took the ball down field and had third-and-goal from the 15-yard line and called for a timeout, but somehow during the timeout they lost a down, as the referees mistakenly showed it to be fourth-and-goal. The Braves' coaching staff was unaware of the mix up and kicked the field goal on what should have been third down, to make the score 28-19.

Bonner then capitalized on another Ward turnover. This time quarterback Peter McKiernan, who replaced Stoker after he was injured on the defense the series before, fumbled the handoff attempt and Bonner recovered on the Ward 10-yard line. Senior running back Garron Wayne punched in a 5-yard touchdown run with 1:50 remaining. Crawford's extra point brought BSHS within 28-26.

The Cyclones quickly went three-and-out and bobbled yet another snap in the kicking game, barely getting a dreadful 12-yard punt off that sailed out of bounds.

Eastland completed two passes getting the Braves down to the Ward 17-yard line to set up the game-winning kick by Crawford.

"I had no doubt about Chance's kick. I know he is a clutch player from playing on the baseball team with him, I knew he'd nail it," Eastland said.

Next up for Bonner Springs is a 7 p.m. Friday matchup against rival Basehor-Linwood at David Jaynes Stadium.

As for what the Braves need to work on to assure more comfortable victories in the future, Coach Kasselman says, "a lot."

"We have to eliminate mental mistakes," Kasselman said. "We have to shore up our secondary and get some coverages straightened out. We are a young team and the guys really grew up out there tonight in this game."

BRAVES MOVE UP

The Bonner Springs football team climbed to No. 21 in the new MetroSports High School Football Super 25 rankings after the season-opening victory. Rockhurst remained No. 1 in the poll, which includes teams from both Kansas and Missouri. The Braves were ranked No. 24 in the preseason poll.

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