Hauling in four interceptions and bouncing back from a road loss, the Parsons Vikings beat the Neodesha Bluestreaks, 276, on Friday night in Week 6 action at Marvel Park.
“It wasn’t the cleanest game by any means, but we took care of business and made plays when we needed to make plays,” Parsons head coach Jeff Schibi said. “I’m proud of the kids. There were times when they could’ve let Neodesha back in it. But there were also times we could’ve suffocated them. We still won by 21 points, so we’re working our way toward the No. 2 seed in our district.”
Parsons picked Neodesha quarterback Tayte Leck off four times. Chandler Hentzen had a pair of interceptions while Aundre Ford and Jakarre Green had one apiece.
“In our scouting report, we noted that we had opportunities to get three interceptions,” Schibi said. “Our guys took advantage of those opportunities. They snatched the ball out of the air. We’ve been challenging them to go get the ball. If they see the ball, be aggressive. We needed those takeaways to secure the football game and get our offense the ball.”
Hentzen had another stellar day on both sides of the ball, tallying 187 yards on 28 carries with three touchdowns. He added a team-high 14 tackles on defense.
“He’s got to be a unanimous First Team All-State guy. He’s got to be a shoe-in for the Shrine Bowl,” Schibi said. “Colleges need to look at him. He plays hard on both sides of the ball. He’s one hell of a football player. I’m running out of words to describe him. I’m thankful he’s a Parsons Viking.”
The highlight of the night was one of Hentzen’s picks — the senior pitched the ball back to Wyatt Shultz, who raced down the field in true Travis Kelce fashion.
“I saw the potential for it as I saw he was getting wrapped up,” Schibi said. “You could tell Chandler was up to something. What a heads-up play. He understood there weren’t any defenders around him besides the guy tackling him. It ended up getting us 30 more yards on that play.”
Da’Karyi Jones rushed for Parsons’ other score. Andrew Houk was 7-of-12 passing for the Vikings with 68 yards through the air. Shultz had five catches for 55 yards.
Up next
Parsons, now 3-3 overall, hits the road in Week 7 to face Atchison. One of the most unique teams in Kansas, Atchison is 3-3 overall, with one of the wins coming via forfeit.
Atchison averages 35.8 points per game but has surrendered 40.2.
“We’re going to go up there and expect to win the game,” Schibi said. “We’re going to have to control the clock and play mistake-free football. We’ll have to limit penalties and turnovers and make them play defense. We have to keep their offense off the field. They can score in a flash. We’ve got to run the football and control the clock.”
