No last second touchdown, no Hail Mary heave, no final minute letdown and more importantly, no early departure from the Kansas Class 4A playoffs.
A 6-foot-1, 195 pound senior halfback saw to it personally.
Lewis Kellogg’s 29 yard touchdown run and two-point conversion with 2:48 left lifted Columbus to a 36-28 victory over Coffeyville Tuesday night at Cecil Kline Field.
The victory avenged a 41-40 loss to the Golden Tornado in week four of the regular season, a game Coffeyville won a last season touchdown pass.
Columbus, 8-2 with the bi-district championship, will advance to play Frontier League power Louisburg (9-1) Saturday following the Wildcats 40-0 victory over Anderson County.
Trailing 28-20 following an Ethan Cordray four-yard run to start the fourth quarter, the Titans answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive eating up 4 minutes, 59 seconds of the fourth quarter.
Kellogg scored the first of his two fourth quarter touchdowns on a one yard run out of a Rhino set and added the two point conversion run – again out of the Rhino set – to tie the game at 28.
“It’s our version of a Rhino set and the idea is to hit a seam and get three yards,” Kellogg said of the formation that includes a double tight end with quarterback Damion Tinnin in the shotgun and three running backs behind him shoulder to shoulder.
After Coffeyville picked up one first down on its next possession, the Titans took over at their own 39 following a Coffeyville punt and 4:42 left in the game.
The Titans picked up a pair of first downs, the second coming on a 15 yard completion on third down from senior quarterback Damion Tinnin to junior receiver Taylor Spear to get the Titans to the Coffeyville 29.
On first down, with the field spread with four receivers and Tinnin in the shotgun, Kellogg lined up to the right of Tinnin as single setback.
Tinnin took the snap, hesitated, then handed off to Kellogg who headed off tackle left on a draw play.
“It was a great call … they were dropping off to cover pass and our left tackle (Andrew Richards) sealed the end, our receiver (Spear) got the corner and I was able to dive in to finish the play,” Kellogg said.
Kellogg added two-point conversion run – again out of a Rhino set – for 36-28 lead.
Coffeyville started the ensuing drive at its own 42 with 2:43 remaining.
The Golden Tornado (5-5), picked a first down at the Columbus 48 on a fourth down scramble by Cordray, but four straight incompletions followed and the Titans were able to kneel on the final 43 seconds.
“We made too many mistakes and those mistakes we can not make if were going to move through the playoffs,” said Columbus head coach Dan Grundy. “We came out in the second half knowing our running game was working well with all of our guys, Dale (Benedict), Wade (Robinson), Damion and Lewis. So we said we were going to keep running it running.
“I know we were predictable, but it was working so we decided to stick with it.”
Kellogg finished with 88 yards on 15 carries, Benedict, a senior slotback, added another 74 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown.
Tinnin was 9 of 16 passing for 153 yards and a pair of touchdowns, one in each half.
Cordray, a 6-1, 175 senior quarterback, paced Coffeyville with 110 yards rushing on 16 carries with two touchdowns and 73 yards passing.
“We left too many points on the field tonight,” said Coffeyville head coach Rich Giesen. “I thought we had a couple of key takeaways, including an interception on a screen pass, we failed to turn into points and a possession right before the half we should have capitalized on. We had opportunities to point more points on the board and failed to get it done.”
COLUMBUS —
