In a tremendous, back and fourth, 4A Sectional Playoff game Friday night, it was a 65 yard Holton touchdown pass with one minute left that changed the lead for the sixth time and kept the Wildcats (11-0) undefeated with a 31-27 victory against McPherson (10-2).  

The first half included momentum quarters as Holton jumped to a 10-0 lead with a Brenden Hampton 29 yard field goal, Trent Tanking interception and Drake Ewing touchdown run, before McPherson scored a pair of touchdowns in the second frame sandwiched between a Holton fumble, and led 14-10 at halftime.  

The two jauggernauts traded punches the entire second half.  The Wildcats took the lead on the first possession of the third quarter as Lane Lassister scored on a 25 yard fullback dive, one snap after a Holton penalty had taken away a Lassister touchdown on the same play call.  The Bullpups countered with a an 18-yard touchdown pass from Kyler Kinnamon to Marcus Houghton with :50 left in the third as the lead was 20-17 for Mac after a botched snap on the PAT try.  Then, following a muffed kick return, Holton responded from their own six-yard-line with a 17 play, 94 yard drive that took more than nine minutes off the second half clock.  Cameron Karn, who led the Cats with 111 yards on 17 carries finished the statement drive witht a 6 yard score to put Holton back ahead 24-20 with 4:59 left in the game.  McPherson wanted to put together a final game-winning drive, and they almost did, after driving 10 plays and scoring with 1:11 on a second Kinnamon to Houghton 15 yard pass to make it 27-24.  It didn't look good for Holton, who had only completed five passes in the previous six games combined,  Yet, a new formation that had been shown in the game did the trick as senior fullback Trent Tanking split wide to the right and Jaxon Wright hit him on a quick slate, which Tanking slipped through one tackle and sprinted 65 yards for the game-winning score.  It was Tanking's first catch of the season and his prep career, but McPherson did get 8 plays off in the final minute, including a hail-marry with .2 on the clock, but Karn and Company deflected the ball away at the endzone and Holton held on for one of their best wins of all time.  

McPherson, who ended their season 10-2, held the Holton rushing attack to just 262 yards, and the Bullpups finished with 313 yards to the Wildcats 341.  Yet, Mac did not have a runningback get over 70 yards for the first time all season, and committed their 25th and 26th turnovers of the year, while not having a play go for more than 20 yards against the Wildcat defense.  Kinnamon, a sophomore, completed 16 of 27 passing for 188 yards and 3 touchdowns including a 10 yard strike to tight end James Mowery, who made a fantastic one-hand catch to get Mac of the board early in the second quarter.  Kinnamon also ran for 58 yards while Austin O'Bannon finished with 64 yards on 19 carries.  Houghton had 79 yards and 2 of his 7 grabs were touchdowns.  However, leading receiver Keaton Sorenson was held without a catch until the final drive.  

Drake Ewing added 71 yards rushing for Holton, but was hobbled and didn't play much in the second half.  Jaxon Wright made another huge play throwing on Holton's 17 play 4th quarter drive as he lofted the ball up, running away from heavy pressure deep in his own territory, and had Tyler Burdiek come back slidding underneath for a 14 yard catch to convert a 3rd down and 12.  The Cats were 4-4 on 3rd downs on that 94 yard drive.  Hampton was 4-4 on PATs plus the early field goal which provided the back and forth fireworks in the second half.  

Holton advances to Sub-State where they will play Mulvane (11-1), a 15-0 winner against Buhler, on Friday at 7:00 PM.  Live coverage on local radio 103.9 FM, KNZA and online at www.mscsports.net  Mulvane's lone loss came to McPherson 35-30.