St. Marys football breaks Rossville's 26-game win streak, 'but we've got bigger goals'

On Friday night, St. Marys (1-0), one of the top teams in 1A, defeated Rossville (0-1), 20-13 to open its 2022-23 campaign with a win over the two-time defending 2A state champions who had gone 26-0 the past two seasons and hadn't lost a game since 2019.

Here's what stood out from St. Marys win.

Keller Hurla fights through pain

Keller Hurla, St. Marys senior quarterback, passed for 1,581 yards and 15 touchdowns while adding 490 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground last year.

In the 44-20 loss to Rossville last season, Hurla went 8-20 for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns with 42 yards on 16 rushes.

"We've been excited for this game for a long time," said Hurla after the game. "We put in the work all summer, we got a tough group and a group that likes to fight. I'm proud of everyone that was a great, hard, tough win."

More: Week 1 Topeka-area high school football scoreboard and stat leaders

St. Marys coach Kyle Schenk said he knew it would be a tough game with Rossville being one of the best-coached teams in the state.

"One of the best teams we'll see all year in and out," said Schenk. "We just made some plays at receiver that got momentum rolling and kind of changed the process of the game."

More: The Topeka-area 2022 high school football season is beginning. Here's everything you need to know

On Friday night, Hurla finished 15-23, 320 yards and 3 TDs to lead his team to the upset while fighting through some adversity to boot.

"I was just having major cramps," said Hurla, who got hit hard a couple of times and had to come out for a play or two. "Got a bloody nose. I was puking too actually, but I wanted this game really bad, and I wasn't gonna let anything like that stop me."

"He's a prizefighter," said Schenk.

In strength vs. weakness for Rossville, secondary shows youth

With just one starter in the secondary for Rossville, senior Kade Perine, finding those names to step up and in will be a key for Rossville moving forward.

Coach Derick Hammes said during the preseason that having the secondary in place allows the defense to play how they want to and with sophomore Kameron Badura, a 6-foot wide receiver and defensive back on crutches, sidelined to start the season the secondary started off on the back foot.

Rossville's secondary got beat deep one too many times, whether on play action or just getting beat off the line, which St. Marys saw and attacked as the night progressed.

"We didn't cover very well," said Hammes. "We didn't tackle very well in the open field. Some of that is us, but give credit where credit's due. They were athletic enough to make plays like that and I thought Keller played really well tonight and he was he was a difference maker for sure."

St. Marys senior Kason Gomez, who led the team with five catches and 85 yards last year in the loss to Rossville, was the big play guy for St. Marys last night with three catches over 30 yards, including an acrobatic 30-yard gainer with defenders draped over him.

St. Marys junior Nate Hutley was effective as a receiver out of the backfield and in the slot with he, junior Michael Gallegos and Abe Huaracha all catching pass touchdowns from Hurla.

"We started with the run," said Hurla. "But then through the air, I mean, I got great playmakers out wide with Gomez, Huaracha, Hutley, Gallegos making plays all night. Coach drawing up great plays and just finding the open guy was pretty easy."

Rossville seniors Hunter Webb and Aryon Kiesath along with sophomores Tayson Horak and Seth Catron will need time to get acclimated as they step into bigger roles in the secondary.

When asked whether it was more of a lack of experience or execution, Hammes said it was probably both.

"Where we're at right now is the mistakes that we made," said Hammes. "We're not a kind of football team right now that can overcome mistakes, and we're gonna have to improve at that. Execution and consistency are going to be important for us. St. Marys had a great, great game plan and they did a great job."

Facing a quality passing offense with its quarterback and top option back are a good test to let the secondary knows where it needs to improve.

Camden Horak shows progress for Rossville

Camden Horak won the starting quarterback job in the offseason and took his first snaps as a starter on Friday night.

The 13-point output for the Rossville offense was the lowest since week two in 2019, a 14-13 loss to Silver Lake.

But that should be expected when an offense loses a senior quarterback who accounted for 2,356 total yards and 26 touchdowns and a running back that accounted for 2,001 total yards and 34 touchdowns.

Horak finished 15-32 for 190 yards, a touchdown and an interception while adding 37 yards on the ground.

While the offense struggled initially, it was able to fight back later in the game to give them a chance.

Their three drives of the game resulted in punts, but after a St. Marys turnover on downs, Rossville took over at its own 41-yard line with 3:22 in the first half and drove the length of the field to score with 45 seconds left.

Horak completed four passes and ran it two times before Perine punched it in from the half-yard line on fourth down to make it 14-7.

Then, in the third quarter, after St. Marys scored on its first possession of the half to go up 20-7, Rossville responded again.

Taking over at its own 38-yard line Horak completed a pass to Perine and then ran it to the St. Marys 33-yard line. An offsides moved them up five yards and Horak found senior running back Braiden Hensley with his best throw of the night for the 28-yard touchdown pass.

Perine had six catches for 117 yards, adding 40 rushing yards and a touchdown.

On the last two possessions, Horak would be picked off and the team turned it over on downs to end any chance of a comeback.

But again, similar to the secondary, the team is replacing a lot of weapons. Perine had quality minutes last year but everyone else is essentially stepping into a bigger role and the offense should improve as the new guys get more comfortable.

St. Marys has big aspirations for 2022 season

St. Marys started 0-3 last year before ending the season 5-1 with a loss to Silver Lake in the post season.

"I love my guys they've worked extremely hard," said Schenk. "They believe in each other and they're tougher than nails.

"Don't get me wrong, getting Rossville is a huge goal for us. But we've got bigger goals and it's not time to celebrate."

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: St. Marys football beats Rossville to open the season