BY CHARLES CHANEY

SALINA, Kan. — When you get punched in the mouth, you respond. Salina Central tried to throw a couple of haymakers towards Andover on a rare Thursday night game but the Trojans responded.

Then, they responded again.

And again.

Andover walloped seventh-ranked Salina Central, 48-21, never trailing and putting Class 5A and the rest of the AVCLT on notice.

“We’re proud of the guys and early on big plays and the catch by Ben, that was a great catch,” Andover head coach Jamie Cruce said. “We’re on a short week, it’s always tough; we haven’t had to do that before, they had the same thing but real proud of the guys for execution and playing confident and play within themselves.”

The win gives Andover at least a share of the league title, their first since 2021 when they shared with Andover Central. That team lost to Andover Central 27-20 in a thriller to split the title. They’d eventually lose to Jared Kanak’s Hays team in the sectionals.

It’s an amazing foundational moment for a team who just two seasons ago went 0-9.

“We were a bunch of sophomores who heavily relied on that junior class,” senior Barrett Hill said. “It just feels great to see all the progress our program has made, especially to get in this league championship position.

Cruce said they didn’t formally address a league title being on the line against Salina Central, the kids can see it. The gym has banners for every sport and they had the years for every league or state championship. They know the drought.

That can end next week against Andover Central. A win and you’re league champs. A loss, and you would split the league title with the winner of the Salina Central-Goddard game. The AVCTL doesn’t do tiebreakers.

“Just because they haven’t done in a while, every week we just want to play well,” Cruce said. “We can use that now as motivation. You win this next one and not only set yourself up well for the playoffs but also you’ve done something that hasn’t been done here in a while. And that’s win an outright league title.”

Andover never trailed, jumping up 14-0 before the Mustangs (6-1) joined the game. By then, Andover had built momentum and couldn’t be stopped. There was some worry about the size of the Salina Central line up front but you couldn’t tell the difference. The front four for the Trojans held their own. Especially when the Trojans were on offense, they were unstoppable.

“We went 7-for-7,” Will Quinn said grinning ear to ear. “Having the league title on the line really affected how we prepared for this game. We just came out and executed everything just like we did in practice and it worked perfectly.”

Quinn was electric. While the Trojans (5-2) showcased an array of weapons, on the ground and through the air, it was the junior quarterback who took his game from game manager to play maker.

“We wanted to feature him a little bit tonight,” Cruce said. “Probably didn’t as much as we had planned on it but he did a nice job getting us out of some plays and into some other plays.”

Quinn had four rushing touchdowns, all by way of the QB sneak, but still four impressive touchdowns.

“We definitely we were prepared for [their size],” Quinn said. “They had a lot of size, but our O-line and D-Line they stepped up. They hit the gaps hard and the lower man wins. I felt like I could ride my center in on the on those sneaks every time.”

He did to the tune of four touchdowns for the first time in eight years.

“It was probably third grade versus Goddard,” Quinn said when he last scored four touchdowns in a single game. “I remember that pretty vividly.”

For these players, they were in elementary school the last time an outright title had been won.

“We’re looking up on the wall, 2014 is the last time we won it,” Quinn said. “That’s we knew we’re going to get it done this week.”

It’s been talked about to the end of the earth about how their two losses, to 4A No. 1 Kapaun and 6A No. 1 Maize, are they they are at 5-2 and not 7-0 but those losses seemed to have prepared Andover for these moments. They’ve played the best teams in the state. They went toe-to-toe with the giants. They’ve seen what it takes.

“We were just really focused,” senior Barrett Hill said. “We knew it was kind of gonna get chippy down, down there but we were really locked in.”

Penalties were like a death by a thousand cuts for Salina Central. The Mustangs had nine penalties for only 40 yards but they always came at the worst times. They had an intentional grounding call on the game’s opening drive that pushed them to a second-and-25. They had multiple encroachment calls on third and shorts. They had the defensive pass interference on the bad snap field goal right before half thtat put Andover at the one. Then, the encroachment at the one that ended a field goal chance and led to another Quinn sneak.

The Trojans? Squeaky clean with zero penalties.

“We knew we can’t afford penalties,” Quinn said. “We definitely avoided the chippy stuff and played our game, especially in the second half.”

After Andover punished Salina Central on the late half mistakes and scored Quinn’s third touchdown of the first half, Salina Central had a trick up their sleeve to start the second half trailing 21-7.

Elijah Duxler recovered his own onside kick and Salina Central would score on a 33-yard touchdown pass to pull within 21-14 with 8;56 to go in the third.

Andover punched back.

As Salina Central tried to stack the box, it was Quinn hitting Ben Reynolds over the top for the touchdown. Reynolds’ poise and focus saw him haul in an over the shoulder catch, maintain his balance and run it for the touchdown.

“They were putting a seven and eighth defender in the box,” Cruce said. “Our run game was able to force a new box, and then we’re able to take advantage of that.”

They did it on the next possession. After Salina Central marched down and scored once again, it was Andover punching back. Quinn highlighted the drive with a 47 yard burst of speed that was aided by another encroachment call and Andover led 35-21.

Quinn did it again on an a crucial third down he found Hill behind the defense and he won a foot race to the end zone, putting the Trojans up 42-21 with 6:45 to go in the game.

Quinn finished 3-for-3 passing for 121 yards and two touchdown passes. He also ran for 107 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries.

Vega had 100 yards on 24 carries as well.

In all, the Trojans ran for 309 yards on 54 carries, dominating the line of scrimmage all night.

Andover defense then saw the blood in the water.

Andover used a bend but don’t break philosophy that paid off as Griffin Hall could not find a pass beyond five yards for most of the game. All but two completions came from the backfield. Blake Alexander’s defense had them locked and loaded.

“Last week we really kind of struggled,” Hill said. “Newton’s quarterback torched us when he was on the run. So it was big focus this week and we really wanted to put a heavy emphasis on their on shutting down their pass game.”

Hill might have thrown for 153 yards but 89 of it came on the game’s final two drives with the game out of hand.

The Trojans now turn their attention to Andover Central next Friday. For the first time in a while, the crosstown rivalry could say back in the Trojans’ favor. It gives shades of Kansas-Kansas State.

“It’ll definitely mean something that’s for sure,” Cruce said. “They’re a good team. They lost a lot from last year, but they they’re playing well of late. They’ve got a running back as fast as greased lightning, and we’re gonna have to play well.”

Hill is looking forward to it as a senior.

“You can’t draw it up any better,” he said. We’ve never really, in my eyes, had a chance to beat them. This year, I feel like it’s our chance.”

ANDOVER 48, 5A No. 7 Salina Central 21

Andover 7 14 14 13 — 48
Salina Central 0 7 14 0 — 21

A – Will Quinn 2 run (Pete Vega kick)
A – Quinn 1 run (Vega kick)
SC – Griffin Hall 10 run (Elijah Duxler kick)
A – Quinn 1 run (Vega kick)
SC – Abram Owings 33 pass from Hall (Duxler kick)
A – Ben Reynolds 35 pass from Quinn (Vega kick)
SC – Cooper Reves 2 run (Duxler kick)
A – Quinn 1 run (Vega kick)
A – Barrett Hill 53 pass from Quinn (Vega kick)
A – Vega 2 run (kick failed)

RUSHING: Salina Central – Hall 11-70-1; Reves 13-107-1. Totals: 24-177. Andover – Vega 24-100; Quinn 18-104-4; Williams 2-6; Hill 8-85; Schumacher 2-11. Totals: 54-309.

PASSING (C-A-YD-TD-INT): Salina Central – Hall 15-27-153-1-0. Andover – Quinn 3-3-121-2-0.

RECEIVING: Salina Central – Rodriguez 5-60; Smith 1-4; Reves 3-13; Peck 4-35; Owings 1-33-1; Cole 1-8. Andover – Tilson 1-33; Reynolds 1-35-1; Hill 1-53-1.