Wildcats upended by #1 SEM

by Diane Stamm

Grant tribune-sentinel

It’s never easy for a 16 seed to take on the top seed in the playoffs. The Wallace football team made the best of their opportunity in the postseason, sticking with Class D6’s top team, Sumner-Eddyville-Miller, for two quarters. In the end, the Wildcats season came to an end at the hands of SEM.

Wallace never trailed in the first quarter. After forcing a turnover on downs by the Mustangs, Wallace took over and quickly moved to the SEM five-yard line on a run by Carson Glunz. 

Riley Strawder scored on the Wildcats’ second play from scrimmage on a run up the gut.

SEM’s return game gave Wallace problems. The Mustangs returned the kickoff to the Wildcats’ 15-yard line and scored three plays later.

Tied at 8-8, Wallace overcame two fourth downs to score again. On fourth and five, Matt Lungrin scrambled into the end zone with 1:19 left in the quarter.

The Wildcats’ 16-8 lead didn’t last long. SEM returned the kickoff for a touchdown, but missed the extra point, sending the teams into the second quarter with Wallace leading 16-14.

Although Wallace fell behind 16-22, Lungrin found Strawder open for a touchdown to put the Wildcats back in the lead, 24-22.

SEM scored two more times in the half, including a touchdown with 10 seconds left, leaving Wallace trailing 24-38 at halftime.

The Mustangs kept the hammer down in the third quarter. An early turnover by Wallace led to a quick SEM touchdown. 

The Mustangs added four more touchdowns before a Glunz run with 6:22 left in the game wrapped up scoring with Wallace’s season ending with a 31-77 loss.

Also suffering playoff losses last Friday were #12 Southwest losing 27-61 to #5 Parkview Christian, #14 Brady losing to #3 Potter-Dix 41-109 and #7 Cody-Kilgore falling to #10 Hay Springs 12-28.

Second seeded Arthur County defeated #15 Wilcox-Hildreth 77-12.

The quarterfinals continue Friday, with the semifinals Nov. 11 and the finals Nov. 18.