·12e_1r-=-

Cardinals down Silver Lake, 3(,-28

lie tokes hOIPI • •InVIBy HAROLD BECHARD

sports Writer';rOPEKA - Throughout the

GLass 3A playoffs, Plainville coachLarry Friend has praised the qual-ity of football played in the Mid-Continent League.Hut unlike E.F. Hutton, few people

stopped to listen when Friend spoke. .It's a good bet the people at Silver

L••!lkf~are listening now. Plainville's un-heralded offense made sure of thatT'he Cardmals ended a fairy tale sea-

son in spectacular fashion here Satur-day afternoon by whipping No. l-rank-ed Silver Lake, 36-28, for the 3A statetitle before 4,000 fans at antique ChuckLegan Field,And for all of you who missed it, this

one HISS no fluke.

PILl1nville,which bas relied 00 its de-f~ moolt of the seuoo, turned to itsoffense against the Eagles.

The Cardinals' offensive line was de-vastating as it qpened huge holes forrunning backs Mike Lovelady, ToddGilliland and Darrin Folsom. TheCards ended the day with 399 yards1111SruJlg. t"1 thought it was more like a thou-

Band," said Silver Lake coach C.J.Hamilton when informed of Plainville'srushing total. "They just kicked ourl>i1l;15 up front. We couldn't stop theiroffense. They stuck us pretty well."The victory capped a remarkable

year for Plainville. After all, the Cardi-nals were only picked to finish fifth in

_ their league before the season started.

StatisticsPlainville

First downs 2SNet yards rushing 71-399Net yards passing 22Com.·Aft.·lnt. 3-4-0Fumbles·lost 2-2Punts-cvercqe 0-0Penalties ' 2-30

" Score by quartersPlainville 6 15 7At Silver loke 7 0 8

Silver lake16

26-90243

14-27-1,1·10-03-25

8-3613-28

P-lovelady 18·yard run (kick foiled).SL-Kruger 11.yard pan from Sola (Kruger

kick).P-lovelody 9.yord run (Friend paa. from Mo-

rin).P-Ilrldgo$ B·yard pass from Morin (a.;.cker

kick).P-Gilliland a·yard run (Beckar kick).Sl-·Workmon 44·yard pass from Soia (Kruger

pass from So'o).Sl·-Kruger 24-yd. pan from Solo (Kruger Kick).P--lovelody SO·yord run (Friend pass from Mo-

rin).SL-Kruger IO-yord pans from Solo, (pass

lolled).

,:~:~:.:.:.:.:;:~:~:~:~:;:..:.:.:!t:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: •.:.:":.:."We wanted to do a good job for the

Mid-Continent League," said Friend inthe ecstatic Plainville leckerreom, "Ofcourse, every league feels it's the best,but over the years ours, has been asgood as any."

Friend mew exactly what his teambad to do to win the game - keep Sli-ver Lake's explosive' offense off thefield.

The Cardinals, behind nearly flaw-less execution on offense, did just thatas they ran off 75 plays from scrim-mage to 52 for Silver Lake. Gilliland, aconverted offensive guard, rushed for155 yards on 33 carries, Loveladyadded 141 on 15 totes and Folsom ranfor 74 on 15 carries,

'I"Our ball control had to be the bid I

faeter," said, Friend. "I felt that 'we ~had to run on them to.beat them. Theyhave such a big-play'. ballclub and wehad to keep the ball away from them. uWhen the Eagles did get the ball, it.

didn't take them, long to score. Led ~,quarterback Shane Saia and a talented!group of receivers, Silver Lake went tothe air for all four of its touchiD~,Saia burned the Plainville secondary ~ir iiifor 243 yards, completing 14-0f-1$ "4passes. . 'I~~

"We've been able to pass on every-one this year," Hamilton said. "But Ithought we could run on them bett«than we did."

Playing catch-upThe Eagles took to the' air because

first of all, their running attack wasgoing nowhere (just 00 yards) and sec-ond, because they were playing catch-up for all but five minutes of the game.T:hat five-minute span took place '

early in the second quarter after SilverLake had taken a 7-6 lead on an 11-yard pass from Saia to Kruger andKroger's extra point conversion.Plainville then drove 70 yards in 14 •

plays and regained the lead for goodwhen Lovelady raced over from nineyards out with approximately 7th min-utes left before halftime (the score-board clock didn't work). The Cardswent on top 14--7when quarterback Ke-vin Morin completed a two-point con-version pass to sophomore Jay Friend. 1\The 161-pound Lovelady, who ended - I

the season with 1,061 yards rushing, I ti

_ (See PI..AINVIU.E; Page"16) s