Wins have been hard to come by this year for Wyandotte and Harmon.
Coming into Friday's DiPasquale Moore/Preps KC Metro Game of the Week, the Bulldogs and Hawks were a combined 0-8. Wyandotte's losing streak stood at eight. Going back to the 2019 season, Harmon owned a 24-game losing skid. Make that 25.
On Friday, at Harmon's Art Lawrence Stadium, Wyandotte downed the Hawks 40-14 behind a dominant running game and big plays on special teams.
With the victory, Wyandotte's first win of the season, the Bulldogs' record at the halfway point of the season is 1-4 overall and 1-3 in Meadowlark League play.
Harmon dropped to 0-5 overall and 0-5 in the Meadowlark League.
What led to Wyandotte's dominating display against Harmon? Togetherness, Bulldogs head coach Marcus Vaughn said.
"We talked about not worrying about wins and losses," Vaughn said. "We just have to come together as a team. Just come together and play."
Wyandotte quarterback Josiah Evans accounted for two of the Bulldogs' six touchdowns. Evans ran for a score and connected on a 57-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Andrew Burton in the second quarter. On the play, Evans was blitzed but he escaped trouble and found in stride a streaking Burton, who was one-on-one with a Harmon defender.
"I didn't even know I was going to throw it to him," Evans said. "It was supposed to be a whole different person."
Burton's catch was only his second reception of the season, according to Evans.
"I had to throw it and give him a chance," Evans said.
When Harmon's Erick Flores sent a. a successful extra point kick through the uprights in the first quarter, the Hawks led 7-6. The lead was Harmon's first in quite some time.
"Five years," Harmon head coach Keith O'Neal said. "That's the first time in five years we've had a lead."
Wyandotte's Brandon Harris returned the game's opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead.
Harmon answered after forcing a turnover on downs. Hawks running back Adrian Fernandez scored from 2 yards out to tie the score at 6-6. Flores' extra point kick put Harmon in front 7-6.
The advantage would be short lived. Turnovers and two short punts helped Wyandotte run off 20 straight points before halftime.
Running back Jaleel Black scored on a 6-yard touchdown run. Then Burton scored. Evans closed out the second-quarter run with a short rushing touchdown.
Wyandotte led 26-7 at halftime.
Wyandotte's Darnell Saunders' 45-yard TD run to end the 3rd quarter helped extend the lead to 34-7.
Harmon's Cyrus Young scored on a 2-yard QB keeper to make the score 34-14 midway through the 4th quarter. The touchdown, Harmon's second of the game, was another step forward for the rebuilding Hawks, who had a total of 37 net yards in eight games last season, according ro O'Neal.
The multiple touchdown game was Harmon's first in five years, O'Neal said.
"We are moving," he said. "They just have to figure it out more."
Derrick Majors' 11-yard touchdown run capped off scoring for Wyandotte and sent the Bulldogs home with their first win of the season.
"It feels good," Evans, the Harmon quarterback, said. "But that's only the start. I still want to get more wins."
