Cogs' postseason playoff hopes dashed

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Genoa-Kingston quarterback Craig Billington runs away from two Byron defenders during the Cogs’ 18-12 loss Friday night in Genoa. The Cogs finish their season with only four victories, one short of playoff eligibility. (Wendy Kemp – For the Daily Chronicle)

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GENOA – Even with a victory, Genoa-Kingston's playoff hopes were slim at best because of a low number of playoff points. The Cogs would have sweated out all of today waiting to find out whether they advanced to the postseason or not.

Byron made sure it didn't even come to that.

Tigers running back Jared King rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns and Byron withstood a furious second-half rally from Genoa-Kingston to end the Cogs' playoff hopes in a 18-12 victory at G-K High on a rainy Friday night.

"We made a couple of plays," G-K coach McCarty said. "I just knew the way we had been playing that a wet field was going to hurt us."

The Cogs (4-5, 1-4 Big Northern Conference West) struggled on offense in the first half and Byron came out with touchdowns on its first two possessions. King scored on a 5-yard run and Andrew Clark made it 12-0 on a 5-yard touchdown of his own.

King, who added a 79-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to make it 18-0, said the Tigers (2-7, 2-3 BNC West) were motivated Friday by losing to G-K last year at home in similar conditions. That G-K victory allowed the Cogs to secure a first-round home game in last year's playoffs.

"I think it all started with us beating them 16 in a row and then last year they beat us," King said. "Coach [Mike] Elsbury didn't want to see that happen again. We wanted to finish the season with a win."

While Byron gained ground, G-K couldn't take advantage of a fumble recovery by Sean McIntyre as the Cogs drove the ball to the Byron 10 but fumbled the ball on a pitch from quarterback Craig Billington to running back Rob Thurlby.

"We had our chances again," McCarty said. "We were down early and we didn't score. And then we had that other drive and we didn't score."

Billington was knocked out of the game late in the second quarter with an apparent head injury. Ace McCarty took over for Billington to start the second.

Near the end of the third, John Cwiok blocked a punt and the Cogs recovered in Byron territory. Ace McCarty found Matt Volkening on the next play for a 20-yard touchdown. The Cogs blocked two punts in the game.

"We've been working on trying to block punts but this is great weather to block it," Bill McCarty said.

After recovering an onside kick, Volkening hit Keith Dayton for a 19-yard touchdown pass on a halfback pass to make the score 18-12 early in the fourth quarter.

The Cogs got the ball again in Byron territory with 4:45 left after Tobias Canterbury blocked a punt that G-K recovered, but the Cogs' offense stalled and turned the ball over on downs. Byron then ran out the clock on G-K's playoff hopes.

Bill McCarty said it might not have mattered with the Cogs sitting on the bubble with only 32 playoff points in Class 3A entering Friday's game, but the loss was a tough one to take regardless of what would have happened.

"The kids tried and it was a tough loss," he said. "The [playoff] point total is probably up at 38 but you want to go out a winner."

BYRON 18, GENOA-KINGSTON 12

B       12    0    6    0  -  18
G-K     0    0    6    6  -  12

First quarter

B – King 5 run (King run failed), 6:22

B – Clark 5 run (King run failed), 2:24

Third quarter

B – King 79 run (King run failed), 9:12

G-K – Volkening 20 pass from McCarty (McCarty pass failed), 1:39

Fourth quarter

G-K - Dayton 19 pass from Volkening (McCarty run failed), 11:48

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Byron: King 24-169, Clark 18-82, Dach 2-25, Hopkins 1-(minus) 1, Bradley 1-(minus) 5. Totals: 46-270. Genoa-Kingston: Thurlby 17-46, McCarty 10-34, Billington 8-21. Totals: 35-101

PASSING - Genoa-Kingston: McCarty 2-10-0-26, Volkening 1-1-0-19, Billington 2-6-1-6.

RECEIVING - Genoa-Kingston: Dayton 2-23, Volkening 1-20, Menges 1-6, Thurlby 1-2.

TOTAL YARDS: Byron 270, Genoa-Kingston 152

SOPHOMORE RESULT: Byron 18, Genoa-Kingston 12

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