Denver Doyle has been sore before but he's never as sore after a Conway Springs game.
"It's the sorest you'll be all year," Doyle said after the game.
It was worth every bruise as Doyle, and the rest of the Owls ripped rival Conway Springs, 41-21 to remain unbeaten in 3A.
"Conway is rough and tough game and I know all the guys are pretty sore, too," Doyle said. "It has to be one of the biggest wins as seniors."
Doyle finished the night with 226 yards total, two rushing touchdowns and caught one from quarterback Caleb Arnold in the win, the final being the nail in the coffin of what was a great game. Up 28-21 after Conway Springs Tanner Wood just scored his second of the game, Arnold rolled out to find Doyle all alone in the flats, he broke one tackle and bolted 53 yards, putting them up 35-21 very quickly.
"It's scary sometimes, because then you might have the let down that it won't be easy," Brad McCormick, Garden Plain head coach said afterward. "Our kids know that with Conway, nothing is easy and they are always going to give 100 percent against us. (The scoring) was nice but I thought we continued that throughout the game."
Garden Plain (6-0) finished the night with 385 yards of total offense to Conway's 222. The Cardinals (5-1) completed just two passes all night.
It was the kind of night where everything went right for the Owls and not much did for Conway. The second play of the game was a flare pass to Denver Doyle in the flats, only to break it for a 50-plus yard run, putting them in the red zone. Then Dylan Clark scored the first touchdown, going right, then cutting back the entire width of the field to score in the left corner. Then when Conway's defense makes a stand, one of their own players runs into the punt and Garden recovers. Arnold scored two plays later and before they could blink an eye, Garden Plain had a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
"That's when I started realizing we could really start puitting up some points on these guys," Doyle said. "Not just hold them to win by a touchdown, we could win by three."
At the end of the first, Conway finally got their legs underneath them and scored their only touchdown of the first half with Tanner Wood plunging in from 1-yard out. But that momentum was fleeting after Wood threw an interception as time was winding down before halftime. Garden Plain took a 21-7 lead into the lockers room.
"We had to go for the juggular. We knew we had to keep going. It's a big thing - we are big rivals with Conway and it was a good time to beat them."
It's probably my first signature win, you could say, for me personally but it's all about the kids," said McCormick. "Have to give credit to Wood - he is a tough runner and they were driving us off all night, but we went bent and didn't break."
