It turned out the drive from Russell to Dodge City yesterday was more than twice as long as the football game in Minneola lasted.

Victoria wasted no time in putting away the home team. The Knights scored 28 points in the first quarter and kept pouring it on in the second, crushing the Wildcats 64-12. The game was terminated at halftime by the 45-point mercy rule, which applies to most 8-man games in Kansas. Under the “slaughter rule”, a game ends immediately at halftime or any point in the second half when one team gains a lead of 45 points or more. The 11-man playoffs, except for championship games,

Knights quarterback Brady Dinkel was 5 of 7 for 146 yards. All five of those completions were for touchdowns, and none of them were gimmes, either: they covered 42, 15, 31, 39 and 19 yards. Dinkel also had two touchdown runs, the first a 47-yard scamper just 2:03 into the game. Victoria’s defense also scored twice, a fumble return of 25 yards by Eric McAlonan in the first quarter and a 55-yard interception return by Noah Dreilling with 37 seconds left which made sure the game would end by the mercy rule.

Victoria now hosts Wallace County (11-0) from Sharon Springs in the semifinals Friday. Someone else will have to cover, since I’m already committed to going to Phillipsburg at Oakley.

LSU lost in overtime last night to Alabama. The Tigers took a 13-10 lead with under two minutes to go on a field goal, but the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, allowing the Crimson Tide to start from its own 35. Indeed, Alabama drove down and kicked a field goal to tie the game. The Tide got the ball first in overtime and scored a touchdown. LSU could not, and once again, the Bayou Bengals came up short against their former coach, Nick Saban.

Taking today to relax and catch up on work in Dodge City. Back to Russell tomorrow. And then the cold front comes in, and it will be brutally cold come Friday night.