By LIONEL TIPTON

TOWANDA, Kansas – Amid Friday night’s festive atmosphere of Homecoming, it would have been nice if the only flags Circle had to worry about were the ones that showed the wind direction in the north part of the stadium.

Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds, penalty flags were an all-too-frequent occurrence, giving underdog Winfield some hope and setting the Vikings up for key scores in their 28-21 victory.

The loss was Circle’s fourth straight after a season-opening victory at Field Kindley (Coffeyville).

“I challenged the kids,” T-Birds coach Logan Clothier said. “We’re going to go home, look at ourselves in the mirror. What do we need to improve on?

“We told them that we love this group, a great group of kids who are going to keep getting better.”

The teams combined for 25 infractions, 13 by the host Thunderbirds. Circle was flagged 11 times in the first half, and each team lost a player due to disqualification on an unnecessary roughness call. At one point, the T-Birds were called for two penalties on one play – unnecessary roughness as well as a sideline infraction that was called because a Circle coach impeded an official from running up the field.

“(The officials) said they were going to be tougher on the sideline (infractions),” Circle coach Logan Clothier said. “That was some emphasis from the state to make sure no one was on the whiting. And so, we got a couple (of penalties) – I know Winfield got a (sideline) penalty to start off the game.

“We didn’t adjust fast enough in the first half … we have to do a better job as coaches of preparing our kids. It’s like a baseball (game) – you’ve got to adjust to how the umpires are calling the game and the strike zone. This is a very good crew; they call things very tight, and that’s just one of the things we’ve got to get better at.”

The T-Birds could argue that their ejection was most costly, as it deprived them of the services of senior Franklin Ekue, a two-way player who also handles place-kicking and is their top running back and one of the leading tacklers.

Ekue, who scored Circle’s first touchdown, was disqualified shortly before halftime, one of six infractions incurred by the T-Birds in about a four-minute span that helped Winfield to 15 points and erased Circle’s 13-6 advantage.

“Losing him was tough,” Clothier said.

Additionally, a number of big plays for Circle were negated by penalties.

“It’s an emotional game,” Clothier said. “(You’ve got) 15- to 18-year-old kids, but we’ve got to harness that. Harness that emotion (and) harness that violence, play snap-to-whistle. We’ve got to be violent, but we’ve got to be gentlemen after the whistle.

“Those are things we’re going to keep getting better at. It’s what high school sports are about. It’s about teaching kids and learning how to grow as men.

“So, we’re going to keep learning from this. These kids learned from this (Friday night). They’re going to keep coming back ready to roll (and) we’re going to keep getting better.”

Things had actually started out nicely for Circle. After Winfield took the opening kickoff 60 yards in five plays for its first touchdown, Circle managed to block the point-after attempt.

The Thunderbirds came to life in the second quarter, and Ekue had the starring role.

He intercepted Winfield quarterback Kellen Gibson at the Vikings 41 and returned it to the 9. He then gained 2 yards, and a Winfield encroachment penalty placed the ball at the 4. Ekue took it in on the next play, and Jackson Strecker’s extra point put Circle ahead, 7-6.

The Vikings then went three-and-out, but used a southerly wind to punt the ball to the Circle 11.

The T-Birds then covered the 89 yards in seven plays, helped by a Winfield unnecessary roughness penalty that disqualified Elijah Bergesen, who had scored the Vikings’ first touchdown.

Sophomore quarterback Cole Wilbur hooked up with senior Dom Sawyer for a 26-yard score that boosted the lead to 13-6 after a missed extra point.

Then the flags started to fly.

Circle then forced a Winfield punt after a three-and-out, but a block in the back placed the ball at the T-Birds’ 11. On the first play of the drive, Circle was called for a false start that put the ball at the 6.

Just when they thought they were starting to escape the deep hole, a holding call moved the Thunderbirds back to their 6. The Vikings forced a punt into the southernly wind, that allowed them to start at Circle’s 28. A penalty, then moved the ball to the Circle 13, and junior back Dane Chattam scored the first of his two touchdowns with 3:01 till halftime. Winfield got the ball again, helped by the penalty that resulted in Ekue’s ejection and scored with 32.4 seconds left to take a 21-13 lead at the break.

“The four touchdowns they had (in the game), I think two or three of them were short-field,” Clothier said. “We’re a dang good 1-4 team. Our league (AVCTL Division III) is so tough; every game is a battle. We’ve got another battle next week (at Rose Hill).

“Every coach in our league would say (that) there are no ‘cupcakes’ anymore.

Winfield had seven penalties to Circle’s two in the second half, but the Thunderbirds were unable to capitalize.

The Vikings then went 80 yards in 11 plays but had to overcome three penalties of their own along the way, scoring a touchdown for a 28-13 lead with three minutes left in the third period.

Then, Circle suddenly showed some signs of life.

On the first play from scrimmage, sophomore running back Jason Smith swept his way 73 yards for a touchdown, and Wilburn ran in the conversion to trim the deficit to 28-21 as the third quarter wound down.

“We showed a spark in the second half,” Clothier said. “They didn’t drop their heads; I was very proud of them. We adjusted in the second half.

“We just made too many mistakes as coaches, mistakes with players.”

In the fourth quarter, the teams alternated turning the ball over on downs. With about a minute to go, Winfield punted with the wind, but the T-Birds return was marred by a block in the back that put them 70 yards from the end zone.

Circle couldn’t move from there and eventually surrendered the ball on downs.

“It wasn’t just that one penalty; it was so many penalties,” Clothier said. “There’s so many calls I could have made better, (but) we’ll just keep getting better.”

The Thunderbirds fell to 1-4 with a remaining schedule of road games at Rose Hill and Augusta sandwiching a home contest against Fort Scott.

Considering Rose Hill nearly upended McPherson on Friday night, falling 37-35, Circle will have to work hard to win next Friday. However, each of the T-Birds’ remaining opponents has a sub-.500 record. Rose Hill has won two games, and Fort Scott and Augusta each are 1-4. However, the Orioles fell in a shootout at a good Wellington team, 49-48.

“We’ve got to cut down on the penalties; we’ve got to cut down on the mistakes that beat us,” Clothier said. “I think Winfield is a danged good team (but) we gave them too much opportunity. Not only have we got to beat them (but) we kind of beat ourselves, too.”

Winfield 28, Circle 21

Winfield; 6 15 7 0 — 28

Circle 0 13 8 0 — 21

W – Bergesen 18 run (kick blocked)
C – Ekue 4 run (Strecker kick)
C – Sawyer 26 pass from Wilbur (kick failed)
W – Chattam 13 run (Tagg pass from Gibson)
W – Gibson 1 run (McPherson kick)
W – Chattam 4 run (McPherson kick)
C – Smith 73 run (Wilbur run)

RUSHING – Winfield: Chattam 18-85, Gibson 17-68, Bergesen 2-22, Hutto 4-9. Totals: 41-184 Circle: Smith 9-124, Ekue 9-39, Wilbur 10-27, Oliver 2-6. Total: 30-196.

PASSING – Winfield: Gibson 5-8-1-93. Circle: Wilbur 10-18-0-109.

RECEIVING – Winfield: Hutto 3-69, Tagg 1-16, Benavides 1-8. Circle: Sawyer 4-54, Bonewitz 2-29, Cosby 2-19, Smith 1-4, Duncan 1-3.