BY BUDDY TABLER
Special to the Tribune
PRATT – The Pratt Greenbacks made a statement with a dominating 67-0 Central Kansas League football victory over Larned Friday. Pratt (1-0) scored 44 second-quarter points for a 60-0 halftime lead.
After stopping Larned’s first possession the Greenbacks wasted no time in establishing their physical superiority with a 5-yard touchdown run by Johnny Martinez and a 2-pointer for an 8-0 lead.
The second 19-yard drive was capped when 280-pound Drake Van Scoyoc bulled his way into the end zone for a 16-0 lead after one quarter.
Then things went crazy as the Greenbacks proceeded to score 44 points in a wide variety of ways, en route to the 60-0 halftime lead which led to a running clock in the second half.
Larned could get very little going against the dominant defensive line of Pratt which averages 250l pounds. Meanwhile Pratt was scoring their 44 points on a 48-yard pass from Carson Hoeme to Max Younie, a 38-yard Hoeme interception, a Hoeme 35-yard touchdown run and a 49-yard J’air Johnson touchdown run.
Every Larned mistake was turned into Pratt points in a dominating performance by the Greenbacks.
“Of course we are disappointed,” said Larned coach Tad Remy. “We struggled with their size and physicality but, still, I never expected that we would not be able to score. Pratt is a very good football team.”
The second half, played with a running clock, was mostly an even game as Larned developed somewhat of a running game with Luke Fischer making solid gains up the middle and Brady Hope adding some flashy runs to the outside.
Johnny Martinez again broke loose, this time for a 51-yard touchdown scamper and, following a successful conversion kick by Adrian Juarez the Greenbacks had their 67 points.
“Right now, we’re back on our heels,” Remy said. “We’ve got to look at the film and, by Monday, put this behind us and learn from it. This doesn’t make or break, our season. We’ve got to forget this one and concentrate on Lyons who comes to town next Friday.”
In the dominating performance by the big and talented Greenbacks ,they completed 6 of 11 passes for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns. Pratt gained 218 yards on 21 rushes and five touchdowns.
Larned’s offense struggled against the size and speed of Pratt’s defensive line all evening.
Fischer posted 59 yards rushing, mostly on strength running up the middle and into the heart of that defense. Hope posted several long runs to the outside and finished the night with 71 yards rushing. The Larned passing attack sputtered and showed only two completions for the evening as quarterback Riley Pontius was constantly under pressure.
Lyons (0-1) visits Larned (0-1) after losing 28-0 to Nickerson Friday. Hesston (1-0) plays at Pratt.
Larned 0 0 0 0 – 0
Pratt 16 44 7 0 – 67
P—Martinez 5 run (Younie run); P—Van Scoyoc 2 run (Hoeme run); P—Younie 48 pass from Hoeme (Martinez run); P—Hoeme 38 interception return; P—Hoeme 35 run (Hoeme run); P—Martinez 12 pass from Wilson (Tatro pass from Younie); P—Johnson 49 run; P—Riley 79 interception return; P—Martinez 51 run (Juarez kick)
