By DUSTIN ARMBRUSTER
Hays Post Sports
HAYS- The fifth seeded Hays High Indians hosted Eisenhower, the twelve seed, on Thursday night to kick-off postseason football. It was the sixth meeting between the two, with five of those contest occurring with elimination stakes. Hays (7-2) moved to 5-1 against Eisenhower (2-7) after a 49-30 victory.
Holden Lind opened the game with an 88 yard kick-off return for a touchdown to open the flood gates for the Indians. Lind added a second touchdown for a two score lead in the first quarter. An 18 yard run capped a seven play 74 yard drive.
Carson Moore's second extra point of the night made the score 14-0. That kick also broke the school record for career extra points. The record was previously held by Lane Clark at 59 makes.
Braxton Basgall scored the next two Indian touchdowns. His first scoring run of 19 yards finished off a 90 yard drive on ten plays after the Hays defense held Eisenhower on downs at the ten yard line. Kaleb Roe collected his first career interception on the drive to set up the Indians at the Tiger eleven. Three plays later Basgall scored his second touchdown on a seven yard run.
Leading 27-0 the Hays defense cracked for the first time. A long Eisenhower kickoff return allowed the Tigers to set up their offense at the Hays 48 yard line. Eisenhower converted two fourth downs on the drive. The second conversion was a touchdown pass of two yards. Their two point conversion was no good leaving the scored 27-6 at halftime.
Highlights
Hays led by as many as 35 points during the third quarter. Holden Lind scored from 59 yards and 4 yards for the third and fourth of his five touchdown night. Extra points by Moore pushed the Hays advantage to 41-6 with 4:56 remaining in the third quarter.
Eisenhower took advantage of the Indians going to the depth chart in the third quarter. The Tigers scored two touchdowns on three plays over the course of 33 seconds. The third quarter closed with Hays still leading 41-22.
Hays inserted the starters again and Lind found pay dirt one more time for a 47-22 score. Johnny Rigler scored his second two point conversion of the year for a 49-22 advantage.
Eisenhower scored one more touchdown against the Indian depth chart for a 49-30 final margin. Hays had the ball at the Tiger seven before taking a knee three plays in a row to end the game. Just 183 of Eisenhower's 405 total yards came against the Indians' starters.
Coach Tony Crough
Holden Lind ran for 213 yards. The feat marked a fourth consecutive game of 200-plus yards. Lind reset the single season rushing record that he held from last season at 1,617. Through ten games of 2025 he is unofficially at 1,810 yards. Lind's career total of 3488 yards is 59 yards away from breaking the career record held by Malik Bah.
Over the last four weeks Lind has 1087 rushing yards and 12 rushing scores.
Lind set the single game rushing record last week at 318 yards.
Hays will play the winner of (4) Hutchinson and (13) Emporia next week.