Hayden football upsets undefeated Wellsville for 3A regional title. Here's what stood out

The Hayden football team (9-1) won a 3A regional title on Friday night, traveling to enemy territory and upsetting previously undefeated Wellsville (9-1), 22-19.

Wellsville led 13-6 after the first quarter and 19-14 at halftime, but Hayden's defense held a balanced Wellsville offense scoreless in the second half and the always dangerous Hayden run game secured the win.

Here's what stood out.

More:Bill Arnold on Hayden football, the Wing-T and winning

Hayden's defense shows up and shows out

With a Wellsville offense that boasted a passer and rusher with well over 1,000 yards each, along with five receivers in triple digits numbers, the thing that stood out to head coach Bill Arnold the most in preparing for the game was the ability to strike quickly.

"They just keep chugging away," said Arnold. " I watched a couple of games where they struggled a little bit offensively. Next thing you know, they just kind of worked their way through it."

Arnold said one of the main ways to slow down that balanced offense was to make sure they were aligned correctly on the defensive side.

Nash Money, Wellsville's senior running back, scored two touchdowns early and got to the edge a few times but was consistently met at or behind the offensive line as the game went on.

"I'd say towards the middle of the game, I was kind of like: 'I don't know what I'm doing. This could be my last game. I need to go,'" said senior lineman Ben Evans. "I started to start to get more aggressive. We just kept fighting. We never gave up, and I'm proud of our team."

When Wellsville sent Money or wide reciever Brody Lee in motion, Hayden's defensive line and linebackers did a great job of riding the runners to the sideline and forcing them wide.

"We knew that, because of the rain and the weather, it was gonna be hard for them to pass," said senior linebacker/running back JC Cummings. "We really keyed in on their run plays, specifically Nash Money. He's a great running back. I have so much respect for him. Our D-line just went out and took care of business."

In the second half, Wellsville had the ball six times, resulting in three punts, two turnovers on downs and an interception.

The interception from sophomore Jensen Schrickel halfway through the third quarter gave Hayden the ball at the Wellsville 42-yard line. It resulted in a Cummings 11-yard touchdown run, plus a 2-point conversion run on the next drive.

"He's a great, great athlete all around," said Cummings on Schrickel. "We knew if we got that touchdown — our defense was doing great in the second half — we knew that we could win the game and that's exactly what we did."

That gave Hayden the 22-19 lead. The Wildcats would bat down a fourth-and-long pass with 51 seconds to go to allow the offense to kneel out the remaining time.

Hayden has answers to Wellsville's quick star

A pick on the opening drive of the game gave Wellsville the ball on Hayden's 20-yard line.

That resulted in a six-yard touchdown run from Money five plays later. Wellsville led 7-0, 3:28 into the game.

After a three and out and a poor punt deep in their own territory later in the quarter, Wellsville took over at the Hayden 24-yard line and scored again.

Money punched it in, untouched, from 15 yards out for a 13-0 lead with 22 seconds in the first quarter. The extra point was no good.

But Hayden responded.

"We completely forget about those (mistakes)," said Cummings. "During pregame, Coach Arnold says: 'You're gonna have your ups, you're gonna have your downs. Don't get too high, don't get too low,' We knew to just forget about it and focus."

Junior Finn Dunshee took the ensuing kickoff to the house. It bounced off his chest inside the 20-yard line before he picked it up and ran straight down the middle.

That cut Wellsville's lead to 13-6 with 7 seconds and swung momentum Hayden's way.

On the first drive of the second quarter, Hayden forced a turnover on downs with a fourth-and-short run stuff on Money up the middle with senior Joe Otting one of the first ones there.

Hayden took the following drive 54 yards for the touchdown, capped off by a Dunshee run from 11 yards out to give the Wildcats a 14-13 lead. Dunshee recovered a fumble on the 2-point conversion run attempt and ran it in himself.

Dunshee finished with 18 rushes for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns while Cummings added a touchdown with 64 yards on 14 carries.

Wellsville took a 19-14 lead into halftime with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Willie Dorsey to Dezmond Winton with 3:28 in the half but the pass for 2-point attempt was incomplete.

"We didn't panic when we came in," said Arnold. "Our coaching staff didn't panic. We made a couple of adjustments. We moved some guys around. The weather dictated that as much as anything."

All of Hayden's offense came on the ground, 47 total plays and 214 rushing yards.

Hayden had the chance to play Thursday but declined

More:Week 10 scoreboard and stats for Topeka-area football teams at regionals

Multiple high school football games across the state were moved to Thursday as a result of inclement weather.

It rained all day on Friday and for the majority of the night at Wellsville.

Hayden declined the opportunity to play on Thursday.

"Weathermen lie all the time in the state of Kansas," said Arnold. "I mean, you don't know, right? Hindsight 20/20, maybe we would have been better off playing last night.

"But I'm old school. I'm not gonna break from my routine, and I don't want the kids to break from their routine. I wanted that extra day to prepare, and I think it paid dividends for our kids defensively."

Hayden's Wing T-based offense isn't meant to put up points in a hurry.

But in a low possession game dictated by the poor weather that resulted in bad snaps on both sides, slips and falls and everything else that comes with rain all day on a grass field, Hayden prevailed.

"We have a schedule and we don't like we don't like to change that," said Evans. "I'm gonna remember this game for a while. That was a fun game."

It's been a survive-and-advance situation for every high school football team in Kansas since week 9. Hayden bought themselves one more week with Friday's upset.

"We knew that we could survive in this weather," said Cummings. "We wanted to see if they could."

Tips or story ideas? Email Seth Kinker at skinker@gannett.com or DM him on Twitter @SethKinker

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Hayden football beats undefeated Wellsville for regional title