Photo Credit: Nick Verbenec/www.nickverbenecphotography.com 
In the inaugural, “8 Mile Trophy” matchup, Tonganoxie thumped, the Basehor-Linwood Bobcats, 34-20. The game started fast and furious. Tongie scored on their third play from scrimmage. Trevor McGraw launched a high pass, to the corner of the end zone. Isaiah Holthaus, out jumped his defender to come down with a 33 yard touchdown. Jackson McWilliams converted his kick.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Chieftains, tried a surprise onside kick. The Bobcats were not fooled, because Will Howard, scooped up the kick, and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown. Michael Janouschek, kick tied the game at 7.
Tongie regained the lead, when McGraw connected again with Holthaus, this time was a 34-yard score. After the game Holthaus, admitted that he, “Ran the wrong route, but I made up for it, with the catch.” McWilliams conversion had the Chieftains up by seven.
The Bobcats struck back instantly. Nate Martin, dropped the kickoff, calmly picked the ball off the turf, and went 97 yards for the score. However, the Bobcats could not handle the snap, on the point after. At the end of the first quarter, Tongie, was up 14-13.
The Chieftains increased their lead with the only score of the second quarter. A tough 1 yard run by Colton Brusven. McWillams scored the last point of the half. Tongie took a 21-13 lead, to the locker room.
McGraw threw his third touchdown of the game, when Todd Brown, ran a perfect “stop and go” route down the right sideline, for a 32-yard touchdown. The point after was blocked, and Tongie was up, 27-13.
On the Bobcats next drive, after a fake punt, gave them a new set of downs. Quarterback Brady VanDonge went up top, for a 39-yard score, to Kaleb Scott. After Janouscheck’s kick, the Bobcats trailed by seven.
The Chieftains tough ground game, put the game out of reach. The offensive line simply wore down the Bobcats. The 75-yard drive ended when Brusven scored for 5 yards out. McWilliams conversion closed out the scoring.
After the game Tonganoxie head coach, Preston Troyer, was asked about his team’s offensive line play, in the second half, “We had an inexperienced group year ago. We had a lot of sophomores, and juniors and not a whole lot of experience. They got better as the year went on last year. They did a lot of stuff in the off-season to get better. We knew coming in, we could lean on them.”
Tonganoxie will be on the road next week, when it travels to Spring Hill. Basehor-Linwood will be home to take on Piper.
